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SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



BY a E ABES 



THE STORY OF THE NATION 



BY 

EVERETT BARNES 



Part II. 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

1908 



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TwoCoplM Hect<i-.. 

APK 14 iy08 






aoHY a. 



COPYRICHT, 1908, 

By D. C. Heath & Co. 



IISrTRODUCTIO^. 

This book continues the story of our country's 
history from the close of the French and Indian War. 

It has been the ahn of the author to present the 
story of events leading- to the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence in a style calculated to sustain the pupil's 
interest. In doing this references to English history 
have been freely made. 

The history of the Revolutionary Period has not 
been written in mere outline, with dry details of dates 
and battles, but liveliness of narration has been sus- 
tained by the use of direct quotation. 

The defects of the Articles of Confederation and 
the steps leading to the enactment of the Constitution 
have been clearly set forth. 

Concurrently with the history of the early admin- 
istrations, an account is given, in the stoiy of the 
growth of the young nation, of the character of its 
people and of the causes of the War of 1812. 

The increase in population and the progress made 
in manufactures and important inventions have been 
given for each decade of our history. 

lutrod. 11. — 1. 



INTRODUCTION 

The story of the rise and growth of slavery and 
its bearing upon the sul)sequent histoiy of the nation 
have been developed throughout the text. The san- 
guinary details of the battles of the Mexican and 
Civil Wars have l)een omitted, but the essentials 
have been included in interesting naiiative. 

The judicious teacher will use the text as the 
needs of the class or the requii-ements of a course of 
study may suggest. 

Summaries and questions for review have been 
placed at the end of each chapter. These give a 
comprehensive grasp of the subject-matter and may 
be used by the teacher to test the pu})irs knowledge. 

The topical headings of the text may be found by 
reference to the table of contents. 

I am indebted for helpful suggestions and criti- 
cisms to Supt. Charles AV. Lyon, Mi-. Homer C. 
Bristol, Dr. L. II. White, Mr. John W. Kafferty, 
and to other valued frieiids. 



Introd. II. — 2. 



CONTENTS. 

Chapter I. 
THE ENGLISH COLONIES. 

1 . Canada 1 

2. English Colonies 1 

3. People 2 

4. How England Treated her Colonies 5 

5. Money Used by the Colonists 7 

0. Industries 7 

7. Writs of Assistance 8 

8. English Treatment of Colonies 10 

9. The Lords of Trade and the Colonial Governors 10 

10. France no Longer to be Feared 11 

11. George III 11 

12. Taxation Without Representation 13 

13. England Tries to Humble the Colonies. The Stamp Act 14 

14. Committees of Correspondence 18 

15. It was the King's Fault 19 

16. Tories and WTiigs . 20 

17. First Continental Congress 22 

18. The Fisheries 23 

19. Privateers 24 

20. The Minute-Men 24 

Chapter II. 

21. The Rebellion Against the King 27 

22. Lexington and Concord 27 

23. England and the Colonies at the Beginning of the Revolution 33 

24. The Second Continental Congress 34 

25. The Siege of Boston 36 

26. The Battle of Bunker Hill 39 

27. Washington, Commander-in-Chief 42 



vi CONTENTS 

28. Ticonderoga and Crown Point 44 

29. The Attempt to take Montreal and Quebec 45 

30. Dorchester Heights 46 

31. War in the Carolinas 47 

32. The War in New York and New Jersey 48 

33. The Hessians 49 

34. Independence 50 

35. Declaration of Independence 51 

36. Washington's Movements 56 

37. The Battle of Long Lsland 57 

38. Retreat to Harlem 58 

39. Washington Enters New Jersey 59 

40. Battle of Trenton 61 

41. Battle of Princeton 65 

42. Benjamin Franklin 66 

43. The Campaign in New York State in 1777 68 

44. Employment of Savages 69 

45. Bennington 71 

46. St. Leger 72 

47. Howe's Army 73 

48. Howe Moves Against Philadelphia 74 

49. Burgoyne at Saratoga 75 

50. Valley Forge 76 

51. The Treaty with France 77 

52. English Leave Philadelphia. Monmouth 78 

53. The Iroquois Indians 79 

54. The West 80 

55. Arnold's Treason 81 

56. John Paul Jones 83 

57. The War in the South 86 

58. Battle of Camden 88 

59. Battle of Kings Mountain 89 

60. Yorktown 92 

61. The Surrender of Cornwallis 93 

62. Peace 95 

63. The Treaty 96 

64. The Greatness of Washington 98 

Ch.\pteu III. 

65. The States, after the War for Independence to the WaroflS12... 103 

66. Articles of Confederation 103 



CONTENTS vii 

67. Hard Times 104 

68. Shays's Rebellion 105 

69. The Ordinance of 1787 106 

70. Constitution of the United States 109 

71. Slavery 109 

72. Industry 110 

73. The First President Ill 

74. Amendments to the Constitution 114 

75. Tariff 115 

76. The Capital 116 

77. The Census 116 

78. Debts, Coinage, Banking 117 

79. New States 118 

80. Parties 1 19 

81. The French Republic 119 

82. The Cotton Gin 121 

83. The National Government Uses its Power 122 

84. America's Chance for Greater Commerce 123 

85. Our Vessels Searched for Sailors 124 

86. The Jay Treaty 125 

87. The Spanish Treaty 125 

88. A New President 126 

89. France 127 

90. Napoleon Bonaparte 128 

91. Death of Washington 128 

92. The Census 129 

93. Election of Thomas Jefferson 130 

94. The African Barbarians 132 

95. The Louisiana Purchase 135 

96. The Oregon Country 138 

97: Trouble on the Sea 141 

98. Embargo Act 144 

99. Election of Madison 146 

100. The Third Census 147 

Chapter IV. 

101. The War of 1812 151 

102. Hull's Surrender 153 

103. Our Navy in 1812 154 

104. The "Constitution" and the "Guerriere" 156 

105. Other Naval Battles 158 



viii CONTENTS 

100. Perry's Victory 159 

107. McDonough's Victory on Lake Champlain 160 

108. The British at Washington 162 

109. The Star-Spangled Banner 162 

110. The Desire for Peace 163 

111. Battle of New Orleans 163 

112. Close of the War 166 

113. Barbary Pirates 167 

114. The Tariff 167 

CH.A.PTER V. 
FROM THE WAIl OF 1812 TO THE MEXICAN WAR. 

115. President Monroe 169 

116. Florida 169 

117. Rise of Slavery Question 172 

118. The Missouri Compromise 174 

119. The Cen.sus 175 

120. The Growth of National Pride 176 

121. Immigration 177 

122. Monroe Reelected 177 

123. The Holy Alliance 177 

124. The Monroe Doctrine 178 

125. The Tariff 179 

126. Manufactures. Inventions 182 

127. Improvements 183 

128. A New President 184 

129. The Erie Canal 186 

130. The Railroads 187 

131. Andrew Jackson 188 

132. The Nullification Doctrine 192 

133. Jackson Reelected 193 

134. The Spoils System 193 

135. The United States Bank and the Surplus 194 

136. Fifth Census 194 

137. Two Wings of Democratic Party. Slavery 196 

138. Election of Van Buren 197 

139. The Panic 197 

140. Sixth Census 199 

141. Election of Harrison 200 

142. Public Lands 203 

143. The Telegraph 203 



CONTENTS ix 

144. Texas 204 

145. Election of Polk 205 

146. The Oregon Country 207 

147. The New Tariff 208 

Chapter VI. 

148. The Mexican War and the Slavery Question 211 

149. The Wilmot Proviso 213 

150. Election of General Taylor 214 

151. Admission of California 214 

152. Treaty of Secession 217 

153. The Seventh Census 217 

154. Slave Law 219 

155. Immigration 220 

156. Steam 221 

157. A President from the North 221 

158. Cuba 222 

159. The Kansas-Nebraska Act 224 

160. Kansas 225 

161. Japan 226 

162. Election of Buchanan 226 

163. The Dred Scott Case 227 

164. Abraham Lincoln 229 

165. John Brown 230 

166. Admission of New States 232 

167. The Eighth Census 232 

168. The Election of Abraham Lincoln 233 

169. Secession 234 

170. Confederate States of America 236 

Chaptek VII. 
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 

171. Fort Sumter 240 

172. President Lincoln 240 

173. The South Makes War 242 

174. Effect of the Capture of Fort Sumter 244 

175. Condition of the South 245 

176. The Blockade 245 

177. Preparation 246 

178. Bull Run 246 

179. Call for Volunteers. Gen. George B. McClellan 247 



X CONTENTS 

180. West Virginia 249 

181. Mason and Slidell 249 

182. Forts Donelson and Henry 250 

183. Control of the Missi.ssippi 252 

184. Battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing. Corinth 253 

185. The Duel of the Ironclads 254 

186. The Monitor 256 

187. New Orleans 259 

188. The Draft in the South 260 

189. The Blockade Goes on 261 

190. Privations of the South 261 

191. The North 262 

'192. Richmond. McClellan 263 

193. Second Battle of Bull Run 264 

194. The Confederate Army Advances 264 

195. Antietam 266 

196. Third Year of the War 266 

197. Copperheads 267 

198. Slavery 268 

199. Emancipation 270 

200. Results of Emancipation 270 

201. Confederate War-ships on the Sea 271 

202. England and France 272 

203. Exchange of Prisoners 273 

204. The Draft 275 

205. Gettysburg 276 

206. Vicksburg 277 

207. Chattanooga and Chickamauga 278 

208. Lookout Mountain and Mi.ssouri Ridge 278 

209. English and French War-vessels for the South 280 

210. Grant in Command 280 

211. Grant's Plans 280 

212. The Wilderness. A Fighting General 281 

213. Spottsylvania 281 

214. Cold Harbor 282 

215. Petersburg 282 

216. The Shenandoah Valley 283 

217. Desperate Measures 284 

218. The Nation's Credit 285 

219. Taxes in the Confederacy 285 

220. Atlanta Falls 286 



CONTENTS xi 

221. The March to the Sea 288 

222. The Elections 288 

223. The South Fights from Pride 289 

224. Sherman Marches North 290 

225. Grant and Lee at Petersburg 292 

226. Lee Abandons Richmond 293 

227. Lee's Surrender 293 

228. What the War had Cost 294 

229. What the War Did 295 

. Chapter VIII. 

230. The Death of Lincoln 299 

23L President Johnson 299 

232. Pardons for Rebels 301 

233. The Condition of the Freedmen 302 

234. The President's Policy 303 

235. The Civil Rights Bill 303 

236. The Fourteenth Amendment 303 

237. The Ku-Klux Klan 304 

238. Military Government 305 

239. Enmity Between Congress and the President 306 

240. Mexico 306 

241. President Grant 307 

242. The Fifteenth Amendment 307 

234. The Pacific Railroad 309 

244. The Ninth Census 309 

245. The "Alabama" Claims 310 

246. Ku-Klux Outrages 311 

247. The Amnesty Act. Election. Panic 312 

248. Resumption of Specie Payments 312 

249. A Disputed Presidential Election 313 

250. Specie Payment Resumed 313 

251. Paying the War Debt 314 

252. Chinese Immigration 315 

253. Tenth Census 315 

254. Election of Garfield 316 

255. Death of Garfield 316 

256. President Arthur 318 

257. The New Na\y 318 

258. The Brooklyn Bridge 319 



xii CONTENTS 

259. Presi(l(Mit ("lovclaiid 320 

200. The Tariff 321 

201. President Harrison 321 

202. Oklahoma 322 

203. American Republics 323 

204. New States 323 

2()o. Pensions 323 

200. The People's Party 324 

207. Eleventh Census 324 

208. Cleveland Reelected 326 

209. The Tariff 326 

270. The Panic 327 

271. The Monroe Doctrine 327 

272. President McKinley 328 

273. The War with Spain 330 

274. The Treaty of Peace 332 

27o. American Troops in China 332 

270. The Standard Dollar 333 

277. Second P:iection of McKinley 333 

278. Death of President McKinley 234 

279. Cuba as a Nation 334 

280. The Alaskan Boundary Line 335 

281. The Panama Canal 330 

282. The Election of Roosevelt 337 

283. A Forecast 337 



BARNES'S SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY. 
PART 11. 

Chapter 1. 

THE ENGLISH COLONIES. 

1 . Canada. 

Four years after the fall of Quebec, France, by 
treaty of 1763, gave Canada to England. Thus the 
English came to govern a people in America that was 
French in manners, customs and ways of living. 
The language was French, as it is in parts of Canada 
to this day. Though they yielded, the Canadians 
were still French at heart. They had no liking for 
their conquerors, either in England or in the colonies 
south of them. They hoped that France might yet 
regain her power in America. 

2. English Colonies. 

The old English colonies went on much as they did 
before England gained Canada. There was no longer 
any danger from France on the north, or from Spain 
on the south, nor, after Pontiac's War, was there any 
fear of the Indians. 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



3. People. 

At the close of the French and Indian War, there 
were in the old colonies about 1,500,000 white peo- 
ple. There were scattered over the country, about 
350,000 negro slaves. 

Slavery was 
common every- 
where, from 
Massachusetts 
to Georgia, 
though nearly 
all the slaves 
were in the 
South, where 
the climate is 
warm. They 
worked in the 
fields, raising 
tobacco, rice 
and other 
warm-climate 
crops. V e r 3^ 
little cotton 
was grown. 

The settled portions of English America lay along 
the coast, and were far removed from each other. 
Most of the people lived along the rivers, or at tide- 
water, for the waterways were the highways of 
travel. There was, in each of the colonies, a strong 




JAMES ons. 



THE ENGLISH COLONIES 3 

feeling of independence and even of jealousy of the 
others. James Otis, of Massachusetts, who, later, 
was one of the greatest of the Revolutionary patriots, 
wrote, in 1765: ''Were these colonies left to them- 
selves to-morrow, America would be a mere shambles 
of blood and confusion before little petty states could 
be settled." 

About four-fifths of the whites in the colonies were 
from the British Isles. The rest were mainl}^ French 
Protestants. Nearly all the whites had either come 
to America to escape bad treatment at home, or were 
descendants of those who had done so. 

The great Alleghany mountain wall, running north 
and south, had barred the people from the West. A 
few hardy trappers, hunters, and rovers had gone 
over the divide, however, into the valley beyond, and 
some of them had settled in the wilderness. King 
George III wanted no settlements l:»eyond the moun- 
tains, and in 1763 he forbade the colonial governors 
to grant any land there. 

From time to time, the people in every colony had 
complained of ill-treatment at the hands of governors 
sent out from England. By the test of warfare, 
against the French and Indians, the colonists had 
learned that they could fight. In each colony, self- 
government by the people had been tried, and the result 
was good. The Americans knew more about it, and 
beheved in it more than any other people that had 
ever lived. They had found that there was no need 



4 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

for kings. Yet they were true to England and had no 
thought of breaking away from the mother country. 

Outside of Massachusetts, common schools were 
almost unknown, but several colleges had been 
founded. Except in Virginia, there were no colleges 
in the South, until after the War of Independence. 

Like dutiful children, the colonies had helped 
England, the parent nation, in fighting her battles in 
America. They looked for fair treatment in return. 
Tired by the long struggle wdth France, the}^ were 
glad to rest from war, and hoped that peace and 
plenty might be theirs forever. 

A living could be made at farming. Some gain 
could be found in ship-building, in the sea fisheries, 
and in trade. If only England would permit it to 
be done, money might be earned in manufacturing. 
There was a feeling that Englishmen in America, 
were as good as Englishmen in England. The colon- 
ists began to think that they ought to be allowed as 
good a chance to thrive by honest toil, as their broth- 
ers enjoyed who had stayed at home in England. 

But some of the Englishmen at home thought 
differently. To their minds, a colony was simply a 
number of people living away from home, from whom 
money might be wrung. Their sole thought was, 
"How much gain can we get from the colonies?' 

England was a manufacturing nation, a great 
people in a small countr3\ She wanted more unmade 
stuff for her factories, such as wool and furs, and 



THE ENGLISH COLONIES 5 

lumber, than could be found within her own bounds. 
In some way she must get these things, for in making 
them over and selling at a profit the goods thus made, 
the English people earned their living. England 
bought stuff from other nations then, as she does now, 
and made it over and sold it back. She wanted to 
buy at low prices and sell at high ones. She could 
not always do this with strong nations, but she 
thought she could compel her own colonies to sell 
to her and buy from her, at prices that her own peo- 
ple would set. She tried to do so. Other nations 
treated their colonies in the same way, so England 
was no worse than the}^ 

4. How England Treated Her Colonies. 

"We will forbid the people of the colonies to buy 
from any country but ours," England said. "Then 
we can sell them what the}^ need, at just what we 
please to charge. We will forbid them to sell to any 
country, but England. Then we can get what they 
have to sell, at just what we please to pay. We shall 
always be master of both sides of the bargain. Then 
we shall thrive. Whether they thrive or not, we do 
not care." 

"But," said some wise and thoughtful men in 
England, " if the colonists in America do not get fair 
prices from us, they will not sell to us, and if they 
do not receive fair offers from us, they will not buy. 
They will make for themselves the things they need. 



6 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Unless we deal fairly with them, we shall lose their 
trade altogether." 

"Oh, no!" said England's law-makers, "we will 
do more. We will forbid them to make their own 
goods. We will make them buy from us, or do with- 
out." 

Thus, the colonies of ICnglishmen in America were 
used for the profit of Englishmen in England. This 
was the more unjust, because none of the colonists 
had a voice or a seat in the English law-making 
body. 

So it happened that the colonists were forbidden to 
buy or sell, except in England, or to make goods for 
themselves. This was done by enforcing the old 
and long forgotten Navigation Laws which had been 
passed in the time of Charles II, and even earlier. 

There was but little manufacturing among the colo- 
nists, even of goods for home use. Clay, and the fuel 
to bake it into bricks, could be found in boundless 
quantities in America, in the very places where bricks 
were needed. But the colonists were not permitted 
to make bricks. Under the laws of the English Par- 
liament, even bricks for American homes must be 
bought in England and brought across the sea. 

Not only were the colonists forbidden to trade with 
other nations, — they were not allowed to trade 
between one colony and another. Everything was 
forbidden by law that would prevent Englishmen at 
home from making money out of the needs of the 



THE ENGLISH COLONIES 7 

colonies. Virginia and South Carolina tried to stop 
the bringing in, from Africa, of so many slaves; but 
they were prevented from doing so, since the slave 
trade was gainful to an English slave-trading com- 
pany, in which the king was a partner. 

5. Money Used by the Colonists. 

English coins were used by the colonists, until long 
after the close of the Revolutionary War. Business 
was done in pounds, shillings and pence, as it is in 
England now. But coin was scarce and trade was 
carried on largely by barter or exchange of goods. 
Some of the colonies made coins of their own. In 
1652, there was a mint, in Boston, that made shillings 
and six-penny and three-penny coins of silver. 

6. Industries. 

As early as 1620, glass was made in Jamestown, 
and a little later a grist mill was built there. In 1642, 
cast-iron was made in Massachusetts. The first 
printing press was set up in Massachusetts in 1639, 
and in 1665, the Bible was printed in the Indian lan- 
guage. A newspaper, called "The News-Letter," was 
printed in Boston, as early as 1704, and soon after- 
ward there were newspapers in Philadelphia and 
New York. Before the War of Independence, news- 
papers were common, and there were printing presses 
in all the colonies. Farming was the main business. 
Much tobacco was grown in Virginia, and potatoes 



8 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

were raised, as early as 1718, by the Scotch-Irish 
immigrants in New England. 




JOHN HANCOCK. 



7. Writs of Assistance. 

In spite of English laws, the colonists would and 
did buy goods of other countries than England. 



THE ENGLISH COLONIES 9 

When ships from those countries came with needed 
goods, offering them at less than English prices, the 
American merchants bought them. On goods so 
bought they paid no taxes to England. 

Bringing goods into a country without paying 
such taxes on them as the law demands is smuggling, 
and smuggling is a crime. But the colonists felt 
that the law was unjust, and that breaking it was 
neither wrong nor disgraceful. A great part of the 
merchandise that came to the colonies was smuggled. 
Many leading merchants were smugglers. John 
Hancock, a rich merchant of Boston, who at a later 
day was President of the Continental Congress and 
the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
was a smuggler. So ha^ been his father, and many 
other respected and worthy people. 

Merchants in England complained that they were 
losing trade in America because of so much smug- 
gling there, and in 1761, England tried to break it 
up. One good way to do this was to have customs 
officers search out and seize such goods as had 
been smuggled in. To better enable them to find 
the goods they were given "Writs of Assistance," 
as they were called, which were really warrants, 
that gave the officers power to search men's dwel- 
lings. 

The colonists were angered by these visits. The 
Writs of Assistance gave to the officers chances to 
anno}^ people, and -they were sometimes harsh in 



10 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

their ways. When it seemed that houses were 
searched out of mere spite, the officers were resisted. 

8. English Treatment of Colonies. 

If we judge her doings Ijv those of other nations, 
England had been liberal with her colonies from the 
very first. Governments were not very generous 
in those days. The colonies of Spain, France and 
Holland had been treated worse than those of Eng- 
land. And yet, as we judge of such things to-day, 
England's rule had been a selfish one. She had been 
kind only so far as kindness was gainful. She did 
not always act with far-seeing wisdom. She had 
felt, however, that it would be dangerous to get the 
ill will of the colonies, for, at an}^ time, their help 
might be needed. And it had been needed; for with- 
out the aid of her colonies in America, England could 
not have held her ground and taken Canada. 

9. The Lords of Trade and the Colonial Governors. 

England dealt witli her colonies through a body 
of men, in Parliament, known as "The Lords of 
Trade." The governors of the several colonies made 
their reports to this body. These governors, most 
of them appointed in England, were not always just 
in their dealings with the colonies. They looked 
upon those over whom they were placed as people 
from whom money could be got and they wished to 
get as much of it as possible. The colonists would 



THE ENGLISH COLONIES 11 

not stand some of the wrongful acts of the governors. 
Then the governors, being angry, sent to England 
false reports about them. Thus, the "Lords of 
Trade" were often misled by the governors, and 
were made to believe that the colonists were not 
loyal to the home government. In this way, an 
unjust feeling against the colonists grew up in Eng- 
land. 

10. France no Longer to be Feared. 

The English Parliament had, again and again, 
tried to bring England's subjects in America under 
better contfol. It had never thought it wise to 
use force, because France had always stood ready 
to take advantage of any quarrel between the colo- 
nists and the mother country. But now the time had 
come when France was not to be feared, either in 
America or in Europe; neither was Spain. It now 
seemed that England might deal as she pleased with 
her colonies, without fear of any rival nation. 

11. George III. 

In 1760, when everything looked bright for Eng- 
land, George III, a man of twenty-one, as ignor- 
ant and stupid as he was well meaning, had come 
to the English throne. He was a king of the old 
style. He believed that the king's will should be 
the law. He thought that people were made for 
kings, rather than that kings were made for people. 



12 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



He wanted to be such a king as the Jameses and 
Charleses had been. He was jealous of the power of 




.,i',oK.,i-; III. 

After the painting I'.v ZolTani. 



Parliament, just as they had been, and he set about 
bending it to his will. He schemed and plotted for 
power in dishonest ways. In a short time, he 



THE ENGLISH CUU.ONIES 13 

became very much disliked by his subjects. The 
greatest, wisest, and fairest-minded of England's 
statesmen were against him. He cared little for the 
rights of Englishmen in England, and less for the 
rights of those in America. He failed to profit by 
the examples of Charles I and James II, the former 
of whom had been put to death, and the latter 
driven from his throne. He could not see that the 
power of kings throughout the world was waning. 

12. Taxation Without Representation. 

The French and Indian War had been costly. Yet 
the colonies had borne more than one-half of its 
burden, both in money and in lives. Massachusetts 
alone had furnished and supported seven thousand 
soldiers. Yet the king proposed to tax the colonies 
still more, and to do it against their will. The 
money gained from this tax was to be used in pay- 
ing England's share of the war debt, and to support 
a standing English army in America. The colonies 
were afraid of a standing army. They had learned 
from England's history what unjust kings could do 
to their subjects through such means. 

The Englishmen in America did not object to pay- 
ing taxes. They were willing to do their full part, 
for the good and the glory of England. They said 
they were Englishmen, and loved England, and they 
felt that they should be treated as Englishmen, even 
though they were not living in England. They were 



14 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

willing, as they always had been, to fight in British 
wars and to pay their share of the cost. But they 
wished to pay in the same way as Englishmen at 
home did. They said that they would not pay taxes 
unless they had a voice in the matter; that they 
must be allowed some choice as to how, and when, 
they were to pay them. They declared, " Taxation 
without representation is tyranny." 

13. England Tries to Humble the Colonies. The Stamp 
Act. 

The spirit shown by these Englishmen, beyond 
the sea, annoyed the king and his party. Steps 
were taken to punish and humble these men, who 
dared to oppose the will of their royal master. Then 
it was that the old Navigation Laws were put into 
force, and that new laws were made even more hurt- 
ful to the American Englishmen. 

One of the new laws, passed in 1765, was called 
"The Stamp Act." Under it England caused great 
quantities of stamps to be printed, which were to 
be sold to the colonists at from one peimy to as 
high as ten pounds each. Xo legal or Inisiness paper 
could be l)iiuling unless it bore one of these stamps. 
Even newspapers were to be stamped. Only the 
people of the colonies were to be thus taxed; the 
people of England were not asked to use the stamps. 

The stamp law was unfair. And, since the colonists 
were not asked to say what they thought about it 



ABUSE OF THE COLONIES 15 

before it was put in force, the law was an insult. 
The people in the colonies, most of them, were very 
angry when the stamps came, and they flatly refused 
to buy them. In some places, mobs abused the 
king's agents, who came with stamps for sale. 

The Stamp Act was in force for a year, and during 
that time the anger of the people grew. Kindliness 
toward the mother country gave way to a dislike 
that was never to be overcome. The colonies went 
so far as to send agents to New York to meet as a 
Congress, which was to plan a course of action 
against England. These agents took their lives in 
their hands, for they openly planned against the 
laws of their king and countr3^ The Congress gave 
out a carefully prepared statement called " A Declara- 
tion of Rights." This stated that while the people 
of the colonies were Englishmen, they were subject 
to the crown as much as other Englishmen and no 
more. The statement also declared, that by right, 
they ought to enjoy all the liberties and privileges 
given to dwellers in England. It named certain 
rights which it said belonged to Englishmen in 
America. To send forth this statement was a dar- 
ing thing. It pleased the people of the colonies, 
however, and made them strong in their purpose to 
demand fair treatment from the mother country. 

The Congress sent a very respectful address to the 
king, and Parliament was asked to deal fairly with 
the colonies. The people of England had, by this 



16 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

time, begun to sa^^ that it was most unjust tq their 
distant friends in America, to keep the Stamp Act 
ahve, and at length Parhament repealed it. 

Passing the Stamp Act was not the only mistake 
made by Parliament, under the lead of the king. 
It passed a law taking awa}^ all power from the 
Assembly of New York. This was done as a punish- 
ment, because the Assembly had refused to provide 
free quarters for English troops, that had l)een kept 
there ever since the war with France. 

In 1768, the Assembly of Massachusetts sent a 
letter to each of the other colonies, which declared 
for the rights of the people. It called upon all to 
resist unjust tax laws. The replies from all the 
colonies were alike, in promising to stand by Massa- 
chusetts. 

As might have been expected, this exchange of 
letters made the king very angry. He ordered the 
Assembly to call back the letter. The Assembly 
refused. It was dissolved. He ordered that the 
other Assemblies pay no heed to the letter. They 
refused; and they were dissolved. 

"So, they defy me; do they?" said the king. 
"These Massachusetts men shall be taught a lesson." 
He moved two regiments of British troops from New 
York to Boston, to be used in making the people 
submit. There was need of it, for the people of 
Boston were in a bad humor, and they were making 
it very unpleasant for the king's revenue officers. 




I'utricL Uuuiy spcakinsj; in the lluusu uf liurgessus, \'iigiiiia. 
After the iiaiiiting by Thomas Sully. 



18 SHORT AMPJRICAN HISTORY 

At al)out this time, the people of Virginia, spurred 
by the eloquence of Patrick Henry and led by George 
Washington, made an agreement among them- 
selves, to use no goods on which a duty had 
been paid to England. Other colonies followed Vir- 
ginia in her coiu'se, and soon the merchants of 
England felt the effect of it. So loudly did they 
complain that the duty taxes in America were killing 
their trade, that Parliament yielded, and all the tax 
laws were repealed, except one. That one was kept, 
mainly to show that England claimed the right to 
lay such taxes, and could lay them if she chose. 

It was thought that the colonists would willingly 
pay a trifling tax on tea, and that, if they did, they 
would thus admit that a revenue tax was proper. 
The king thought this was a very shrewd wa}^ to 
trap the colonists. It was arranged so that the tax 
on tea should be even less in America than it was 
in England. "Three pennies on a pound of tea is 
nothing," said the king. "Of course they will pay 
it. Then they cannot refuse to pay duties on other 
goods, when we demand them later." But the 
colonists saw the trap. 

14. Committees of Correspondence. 

During the stir about the duties, and before any 
cargoes of tea reached America, the people of Massa- 
chusetts, the better to let all the people know what 
was going on, formed Committees of Correspondence. 



ABUSE OP^ THE COLONIES 19 

It was the duty of these to write letters from Boston, 
to all the towns, and from the towns to Boston, three 
or four times a week. Mounted men carried these 
letters. The plan worked so well that soon there 
were Committees of Correspondence in nearly all the 
colonies, and thus each colony knew what was going 
on in all of the others. 

15. It was the King's Fault. 

In all the unfairness that had been shown, it was 
not England that oppressed the colonies. Her best 
and wisest statesmen said that such harsh laws were 
wrong. It was the 3^oung, headstrong and ill-ad- 
vised king, that abused the colonies. He, in his 
conceit, was set upon gaining for himself such powers 
as English kings had and used before the time of 
Cromwell. Since wise and good men would not 
help him in his course, he called to his aid those who 
had more craft and selfishness, than honesty. He 
spent a large part of the vast fortune left him by his 
father, in bribing members of Parliament to do his 
will. Some, who would not take money, he gained 
by giving them high offices, and places of honor. In 
all this, he showed but little good sense. Perhaps 
he was not very much to blame, because he had in 
him the taint of insanity. In his later life, be became 
so openly insane that he was kept in restraint. 



20 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

1 6. Tories and Whigs 

The king's followers were called Tories, and those 
of the English people, who were against him and his 




EDMUND JiUItKE. 
After the painting by J. Harry. 



party, were known as Whigs. Thus there were two 
political parties in England. As in England, so it 



ABUSE OF THE COLONIES 21 

was in America. The Tories in the colonies took 
sides with the king, and favored the Stamp Act, or 
anything else that the king wanted. Their neigh- 
bors, the Whigs, were against the Stamp Act, and 
all else that cut off their rights as Englishmen. 

There was strife in every neighborhood, for the 
Tories were very troublesome to the patriots. In 
the war that came there was much bloodshed be- 
tween the Tories and their neighbors, for many Tories 
fought for the king. 

The disputes that brought about the war, were not 
between the colonists and all the English at home. 
They were rather between the Tories and the Whigs 
on both sides of the sea, neighbor against neighbor. 
Had the great Wliig party in England been in power 
with Edmund Burke as its leader, it would have 
checked the king in his foolish course. Then, there 
would have been no abuse of the colonists and, there- 
fore, no war. Had there been no war, this great 
country would probably now be a great branch of 
the British Empire. 

As things were, the course of the king and his 
followers, against the people, became a matter of 
words in England, and of arms in America. There 
were as many Tories in America as patriots, and, 
when the war came, they were as eager to help the 
king as the patriots were to fight for their rights. 
The angry king was by this time more intent on 
forcing the colonists to submit to his will, than he 



22 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

was to get money from them. To his mind the 
colonists were rebels, and they must be. punished. 

17. First Continental Congress. 

It was now 1774, and it was plain that there was 
danger of war. All were in dread of what was to 
come. It was thought wise to call another congress 
of men from all the colonies, to consider what should 
be done. The men appointed met at Philadelphia 
late in the year; each colony except Georgia having 
its agents at hand. Men would have been sent from 
that colony had not its Tory governor prevented it. 
This meeting was called the Continental Congress. 
Its members felt, as did the men at home who had 
sent them, that the time had come when all patriots 
must act together. Massachusetts was already in 
open rebellion against the king. Her men were 
drilling as soldiers in nearly every town. The 
British general, Gage, fearful of attack, was building 
earth-works to defend Boston. From North to South 
there was a firm behef that Massachusetts was right, 
and a strong purpose to stand by her. The Congress, 
hoping for peace, sent a respectful message to the 
king, pleading that he would treat his colonists 
fairly. He refused to read it. 

This first Continental Congress lasted for nearly 
two months. Out of its work grew a strong feeling 
of fellowship among the colonies, and a common 
purpose to move together in claiming their rights. 



ABUSE OF THE COLONIES 23 

The Congress had no power to make laws; it could 
only advise. It did advise that all unite in putting 
pressure on the people of England, in the hope that 
thus the king might be reached. It sent word to 
all the people asking them to agree to buy nothing 
coming from England, and to send no goods of any 
kind to England. In short, all trade with England 
was to stop. The plan was not a new one. It had 
been tried before, with good results, and now it was 
hoped that, more fully carried out, it might work 
even better than it did before. 

The effect was soon felt in England. Her colonies 
were of value to her for the trade they gave her. Her 
merchants and her people depended on that trade 
mainly, and, when it ceased, they suffered. The 
result was such as the colonists had expected. The 
distress in England, that came from the loss of trade 
with the colonies, gave the Whig party new strength 
against the Tory party and the king. 

1 8. The Fisheries. 

In revenge for this shutting off of trade, the king 
caused Parliament to pass a law forbidding the 
colonists to fish on the Newfoundland banks. This 
blow hurt New England, for the people there were 
largely engaged in catching codfish, off the New- 
foundland coast. Their little vessels now lay idle 
at the wharves, and they had no means of earning 
their bread. 



24 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

19. Privateers. 

Thus, ill the game, the king met one move with 
another. Now it was the turn of the colonists to 
move. They did this by tiu-ning their fishing vessels 
into armed sea-rovers, to pounce on English mer- 
chant-ships and their cargoes. In a short time, as 
soon as the war began, there were thousands of 
fishermen, the best sailors in the world, ravaging 
British commerce on the sea. 

Such vessels would have been pirate craft in times 
of peace, but, being given authority by Congress to 
seize the enemy's ships, they were a nav>^ owned by 
private persons instead of by a nation. Such vessels 
are called privateers. 

20. The Minute-men 

The people of Massachusetts and other parts of 
New England were ready for war, but they thought 
it wise to wait for England to strike the first blow. 
They meant that the world should see that they 
were forced to fight to defend themselves. They 
wanted the good will of the nations of the earth in 
the war that they knew was coming. 

While waiting, they made good use of the time. 
Men in all the towns formed companies that met, 
nightly, for drill. Each man held himself ready to 
rush to the field as a soldier, at a minutc^s notice. 
Thus, while there was no camp of soldiers, there was 



ABUSE OF THE COLONIES 25 

a patriot army of several thousand men, ready for 
instant service. Those who belonged to this force 
were called Minute-men. 

To build up such an army was eas}^, for there was, 
and had been from the days of danger from Indians, 
a law, that every man must keep on hand a musket 
and a fair supply of powder and ball. Game was 
plentiful in those days, and through practice in 
hunting, nearly every man was a good shot. There 
were many veterans of the French wars still living, 
and they taught mihtary drill to those younger men 
who had never been soldiers. Like Massachusetts, 
other colonies prepared for war. 



SUMMARY. 

1. After the French and Indian War, England began to oppress 

her colonies in America. 

2. The colonists claimed the right to buy goods wherever they 

pleased. 

3. To escape severe taxation, the colonists practiced smug- 

gling. 

4. Under "Writs of Assistance," houses were searched by tax 

officers for smuggled goods. 

5. The "Stamp Act." Anger of the colonists. 

6. Massachusetts takes a firm stand. The king orders troops 

from New York to Boston to overawe the people. 

7. First Continental Congress, 1774. The colonists say that 

they will buy no more goods from England. 
S. The " Minute-men." 



26 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 

1. How (lid luiglaiul proposo to muko money from her Amer- 

ican colonies? 

2. What was "smus2;.e;lins?"' Why was it practiced? 

3. For what purpose were " Writs of Assistance" issued? 

4. What was meant l)y "Taxation without Representation"? 

5. What was the purpose of the "Stamp Act"? 

6. What colony was most active in opposing the measures of 

Pai'liament? 

7. When did the first Continental Congress meet? Where? 

What was the purpose? What did England do in return 
for some of the measures passed by this Congress? 

* S. What were privateers? 
9. To what place did the king order regiments of British 
soldiers? Why? 

10. Who were the "Minute-men?" Why were they so called? 



Chapter IT. 

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 

21. The Rebellion against the King. 

Things went on from bad to worse, and in the early 
part of 1775, Parliament declared that there was 
rebelhon in Massachusetts. To put it down, a fleet 
was sent to Boston, with thousands of soldiers. 
General Gage had now a good sized army of regular 
troops in Boston, and was getting ready to crush the 
rebellion. Yet so far as could be seen, there was no 
army for him to fight. Those, whom his troops were 
3^et to meet, were quietly working in their shops, or on 
their farms. A good old " Queens '-Arm" musket 
hung over nearly every fire-place, and beside it was 
a full powder-horn and a bag of bullets. 

Many patriots had left Boston for safety from the 
Tories, as indeed many Tories had gone into Boston, 
for safety from the patriots. Samuel Adams and 
John Hancock, two leaders against the king, were 
wanted by General Gage, and had he caught them, 
their fate would have been a sad one. They had left 
Boston, though, and he could not catch them. 

22. Lexington and Concord. 

Word was sent often from Tory spies outside the 
city to Tories inside, so that Gage knew of much that 

27 



2S SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

was going on in the country. He thus learned, one 
day, that by a quick dash to Lexington and Concord, 




SAMIEL ADAMS. 
After the painting by Johnston. 



he might not only capture Adams and Hancock, but 
could destroy a lot of arms and supplies, stored at 
those points for use against the king. 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 29 

"I will catch these upstart traitors," said Gage, 
" and, while I am doing that, I will burn the stores of 
supplies that their friends have gathered." At 
midnight of April 18, 1775, he sent out a force from 
Boston toward Lexington, very secretly, as he 
thought. But, if Tories outside could send word in, 
patriots inside could send word out. Paul Revere 
saw what was being done, and made that ride of 
which Longfellow tells in the poem. 

The Minute-men were roused, and they began to 
gather. When the British column reached Lexing- 
ton, in the gray of the dawn, there was a group of 
armed Minute-men on the village green. The king's 
troops fired on them, killing and wounding several. 

That for which the patriots had waited had come 
to pass. The British had shed the blood of the colonists. 
The British had begun the war. The war was on. 
Those few shots at Lexington changed the course of 
history for the world. 

Warned by Revere, Adams and Hancock had fled. 
The soldiers then marched toward Concord, a few 
miles farther on. But so many Minute-men were in 
sight, that the British colonel prudently sent back 
from Lexington to Boston, a call for more troops. 
He was wise, for before night he was to need them 
badly. 

At Concord, were more Minute-men. They were 
coming from all directions. They swarmed. At 
Concord Bridge, they attacked two hundred "red- 



30 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

coats," as the British in their scarlet uniforms were 
called, and drove back such as they did not kill. 
The British were in trouble. They fell back toward 
Lexington, and as the}^ retreated, their troii]:)les grew. 

From villages and farms, outlying all around, the 
Minute-men came in little squads, and they gathered 
along the road that ran from Lexington to Boston. 
They had no general in command. Every man was 
his own officer. Word was passed along, "Worry 
them. Sneak along around hillocks, through woods, 
behind stone walls. Keep even with the red-coat 
column and shoot at it as it retreats. Keep scattered. 
If they leave the road to fight you, fall l^ack into the 
fields, and let them tire themselves out in chasing 
you. Then, when they go back to the road, follow 
them. Whenever you see a group of them, sight at 
the middle one, and fire. If you miss him you will 
hit one of his mates." 

It was after leaving Lexington that the British 
fared the worst. They had marched since midnight 
and had fought for hours. The day was hot. The 
soldiers were hungry, thirsty. They dared not stop 
to rest. They sweltered in their thick uniforms and 
began to throw away their knapsacks. They ceased 
to fight. Their only thought was to get away. 
They longed for Boston and safety. One after 
another they fell. Some gave out, exhausted. It 
seemed that those not killed must surrender. Few, 
if any, would have reached Boston, had not the 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 31 

troops, that had been sent for, come out to meet them 
and helped them to find safety, at a point where the 
man-hunters from the country could not follow. 

The Minute-men camped that night at Cambridge, 
just out of range of the guns of the British war-ships, 
and that camp remained until, at a later time, the 
British army was driven out of Boston. 

Thus began the great war of The American Revolu- 
tio7i. The Americans had won the first battle. 
They had shown that they could attack and defeat 
a body of the best troops of England, whose troops 
were called the best in the world. It was a fight of 
Briton against Briton; on one side, Britons fighting 
for liberty; on the other, Britons fighting because 
ordered to by their king. Man for man, he who 
fights against injustice, will outfight him who fights 
because he is ordered to. This had been shown in 
England, when Cromwell's rugged commoners de- 
feated the flower of England's army. It was now 
shown again. The loss of the Minute-men was about 
a third as great as that of the king's troops. 

The day brought sorrow to many households of 
Massachusetts. New graves were dug in many 
churchyards, and in many little farm-burying- 
grounds. 

The story went forth. Many a horseman set out 
with news that? the war had begun, and begun 
gloriously for the cause of freedom. It was not 
Boston's war; it was not the war of Massachusetts; 



32 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

it was Pennsylvania's war; it was Virginia's war; it 
was the war of all the colonies united, as one, and 
into one. 

For ten years, a portion, perhaps half, of the 
Americans, had sought in peaceful ways, and some- 
times in ways that were hardly peaceful, to get their 
just rights. Now they were to fight for them, and 
fight hard. The king had struck the first blow, had 
killed the first men, and the blow had been paid back 
quickl}' with the killing of man}^ men. The patriots 
were to fight now, single-handed, against the soldiers 
of the king, and against the Tories who were rallying 
to the royal flag. 

Israel Putnam was a veteran of the French and 
Indian War. He had fought for his king and he 
was a brave and skillful leader. He was now a 
Minute-man. Quietly plowing on his farm in Con- 
necticut, one day, he heard a shout from the road, 
as a mounted messenger dashed by, "The War has 
begun; Minute-men to the Front." 

Unhitching one of his horses he threw off all the 
harness ]jut the l^ridle, mounted, and in one minute 
was on his way to Cambridge. From all New England 
and from far beyond New England, the}^ came. The 
Minute-men gathered l)y thousands, and, ten days 
from the time of the first shot of the war. Gage found 
himself l)esieged in Boston ])y an army much greater 
than his own. lie dared not send a man outside of 
his fortified lines. 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 33 

23. England and the Colonies at the Beginning of the 
Revolution. 

The colonies were poor. They had lost men and 
money in the late French and Indian War, and 
lacked the means to carry on a new war. They were 
far apart, so that it was hard to bring together the 
men who were willing to fight. There was, as yet, 
not such a strong feeling of union among them, as was 
needed at the beginning of a war. They had yet 
much to do to overcome the feeling, that each colony 
was for itself and none for all. Many of the people 
in each colony sided with the king, and were ready 
to fight their neighbors at his command. 

The colonies had no war-ships with which to fight 
upon the sea, except the little vessels that were being 
armed as privateers. They had no cannon; they had 
no arms of any kind, nor any powder and ball, except 
what the Minute-men owned, each for himself. 

England was as strong as the colonies were weak, — 
the strongest nation in the world. She had three 
times as many people as the colonies had, and was 
the richest of nations. Her merchant-ships were the 
best; her navy ruled the sea; and she had a large 
army that had lately won great victories in Europe, 
over three great nations. It seemed foolhardy for 
the weak colonies to brave the anger of England's 
king. 

Yet, England could not afford a war. The long 
and costly struggle that had left her great, had left 



34 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

her tired out and in debt. She needed long years of 
peace in which to grow strong. To fight the colonies 
would be costly. To do so, she must move her 
troops, and all that was to supply them, thousands 
of miles across the sea. It would cost a thousand 
times as much to put down the colonies, as it woidd 
to grant their just demands. Her wisest statesmen 
saw what folly it was for the three-fourths of England 
in the British Isles, to make war on the one-fourth 
of England in America. But the king would have 
his way. 

24. The Second Continental Congress. 

In May, 1775, the Continental Congress came 
together at Philadelphia, for its second session, no 
one knowing how long the session was to be. John 
Hancock of Massachusetts, one of the men Gage 
tried to capture at Concord, was president. Great 
events were following each other, and it was to be 
years before the labors of that session were to end. 
In the first Congress, there had been a hope that fair 
treatment might l^e gained b}^ w^iys of peace; now 
there was a state of war. The time for pleading had 
passed. The duty of this Congress was to carry on 
the war. 

It was hard for the colonists to learn that in union 
there is strength. From its }:)eginning in doubt and 
fear, to its ending in victory, all through the six 
years of its course, the Congress was a scene of petty 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 



35 



bickerings and schemings, through which single col- 
onies sought to make gains for themselves. The 
little colonies wanted to have as much power as the 




INDEPENDENCE HALL, 
Philadelphia. 



])ig ones, and the big ones wanted to control the little 
ones. There was a scramble for honors and offices. 
In that Congress were selfish, unworthy, short- 



36 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

sighted, narrow-minded, office-seeking, and office- 
trading plotters, just as there have been in every 
Congress, ever since. 

So many petty wranghngs stood in the way of wise 
measures to help the army, that it suffered much 
and the cause was set back for years. Such union 
as there was among the colonies, during the war, 
came from the outside pressure of a . great common 
danger, more than from a brotherly spirit within. 
They were united because they dared not be other- 
wise. For a time, it was left for each colony to do 
what it pleased in fighting the king; but at length. 
Congress acted as though there was a union, and 
voted to raise an army of 20,000 men, to be paid ])y 
the United Colonies, and to be called the Continental 
Army. Thus began the first real National Army. A 
National Navy was provided for. It was ordered that 
thirteen war-ships l:»e ])uilt. A National Commander- 
in-Chief was appointed, and National Money was 
ordered, called Continental Currency. The word 
"Continental," was used in the sense of National. 
There was the Continental Congress, army, navy, and 
currency. 

25. The Siege of Boston. 

Within a few days after the Battle of Lexington, 
the little camp of soldier-chasers at Caml)ridge grew 
to ])e an army of 15,000 men. This army laid siege 
to Boston. The patriots meant to capture, drive 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 37 

out, or destroy the British army. The king's troops, 
that had come to put down the rebeUion, had all 
they could do, to save themselves. Men were com- 
ing on foot, from colonies hundreds of miles away, to 
join the Cambridge army. Earth- works were being 
built around Boston from which to fight Gage's men, 
should they come forth to attack. 

Said the Tories, "What folly! What if the mis- 
guided rebels did drive back the king's troops from 
Lexington? That is nothing. The British nation 
has a great army ; it has able generals ; it has bound- 
less wealth; it has muskets, cannon, ammunition, 
clothing; it has factories to make more; it has ships 
to bring armies and supplies to America. The colo- 
nies; what have they? Why, they have not powder 
and ball enough for one good battle. They have no 
money ; they have no cannon ; the}^ have no shops to 
make any of the things that are needed in a war. 
Besides, they are divided. There are about as many 
colonists in favor of the king as there are against 
him. These hot-heads will fail. Many will be killed ; 
more will be hanged for treason." 

Answering the Tories, the patriots said, "We are 
at home. The king must send his men and all they 
need to use, thousands of miles to fight us. It will 
be very costly. It will cost England more to fight 
us a year than all the taxes she strives for would 
amount to in a century. Besides, every time she 
strikes us, she wounds herself. Are we not a part 



38 SHORT AMP]RICAN HISTORY 

of England? Is all England so insane as to harm 
herself; or will wise counsels prevail? As to gen- 
erals, have we not Washington, Montgomery, Arnold, 
Wayne? Have we not a host of lesser officers, who 
showed greater skill in fighting the French, than 
any of those that were sent from England?" 

Boston in those days was on a peninsula. A little 
strip of land joined it with the mainland. The water 
on either side has been filled so much in later years, 
that Boston now seems to be a part of the main land, 
itself. This Httle strip was fortified by the British 
at one end, to keep the Continentals out, and at the 
other by the Continentals to keep the British in. 
There were various hills on the mainland around the 
city which was then very small, from which cannon 
might send shot to reach the troops within. If the 
Continentals had plenty of cannon they could batter 
the British in the city, at long range, until they would 
be glad to take their ships and get away. Two of 
these hills were higher than the others. One, in 
Charlestown, near Bunker Hill, was called Breed's 
Hill, and the other, on the other side to the south of 
Boston, in Dorchester, was called Dorchester Heights. 

By the middle of June, Gage's forces numbered 
about ten thousand men and he began to think of 
acting. As a good general, he saw that the first 
thing to do, was to seize Breed's Hill and Dorchester 
Heights, and build forts upon them, for it was plain 
that if he did not do this the Continentals would, and 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 39 

would then compel him to retreat.* While he was 
getting ready the Continentals went to Breed's Hill 
in the night and, by working until morning, built 
some fairly good breast-works. 

At sunrise, next morning, June 17, 1775, the British 
saw what was going on and opened fire on the hill 
from their war-ships. 

26. The Battle of Bunker Hill. 

Colonel Prescott's thousand Minute-men kept 
digging. The Colonel walked carelessly up and 
down the line, telling the men that there was much 
more room for the cannon balls to miss, than there 
was for them to hit. The men kept cool and dug 
with a will, and Gage soon saw that something more 
than long range cannon fire was needed to drive 
them away. He said he would drive them out with 
cold steel. 

More than a third of Gage's men moved over to 
Charlestown to take the hill. It was noon, by the 
time they got over and ate their noon ration, and 
formed for the advance. Meanwhile the Continen- 
tals had been working like beavers, not only in 
strengthening their works, but in getting more men 
into them. The British were preparing an attack 
which the Continental officers saw was to be an un- 
skillful one. 

In their American fighting, British officers were 
always slow to see what were the right things to be 



40 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

done. They were used to European ways of l^attle, 
and did not know the American style, which had 
grown up largely through practice in fighting with 
the Indians. The English thought that a heavy body 
of men should move on the enem}^ with crushing 
force. The American idea was, that each man 
shoidd, while working with the body to which he 
belonged, yet fight largely as though he himself was 
expected to use judgment and skill. 

Said Gage, "When those rustics see our solid hues, 
the men shoulder to shoulder, with ba3^onets set, no 
more to be withstood than a great billow coming to 
overwhelm them, they will lose heart and run like 
rabbits. The3^ will not stand a line of advancing 
steel." He was mistaken. 

As the line of red-coats came on, some of the Conti- 
nentals wanted to begin firing. " No ;" said Prescott, 
"we have no shots to waste. Let every bullet find 
its man." "Don't fire until they are so near that 
you can see the whites of their eyes," said Putnam, 
he who had so hastily quit his plowing at the call of 
war. 

On came the British. All was silent behind the 
breast-works. A thousand eyes were sighting the 
barrels, each with its man picked out, as doomed to 
die. A thousand fingers pressed the firelocks ready 
to pull at the word. The courage shown on both 
sides was wonderful. To march, as those British 
soldiers did, straight up to the works, so near that 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 41 

each one felt that the man who was aiming at him, 
could not miss, required a nerve as steady, as was 
ever shown on battlefield since men began to kill 
each other. 

The word was given, "Fire!" There were a few 
seconds of the rattle of musketry; a cloud of smoke 
floated back; powder-horns were lifted; bullets were 
rammed home. This was inside the works. Out- 
side, lay the harvest rows of death. The advancing 
line had melted. It was broken as a wave is broken 
when it strikes the rocks. Those that were left of the 
soldiers who had come on in martial pride, fell back 
in terror. 

Again, urged on, threatened, beaten with flats of 
swords, the British soldiers formed and charged. 
Again the cool marksmen behind the breast-works 
swept them out of life. Again they fell back. Now 
came a time of danger to the Minute-men. Their 
powder was gone. If the British charged again, 
they would win. 

More troops came from Boston, and the third 
charge was made. It swept the patriots from the 
hill, and they fell back to escape capture. It was a 
victory for the British; but it was so costly as to 
make them tremble. Said one of the patriots, 
"Great Britain has not soldiers enough to buy our 
New England hills at such a price." 

The British lost eleven hundred and fifty-four; the 
Continentals four hundred and forty-nine. Among 



42 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

the patriots who died that day was General Warren 
who, had he hved, might have become as famous as 
Washington. Among the British dead, lay Major 
Pitcairn, who had ordered his men to fire on the 
Minute-men at Lexington. 

The battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill proved, 
what the world had refused to believe, that the 
Continental soldiers, both in attack and in defense, 
could stand against any troops in the world. The 
art of war as followed in Indian fighting, and in the 
struggle against the French, had been well learned by 
the hardy New Englanders, and they had become 
better soldiers than they knew. 

Thus, in a few weeks, the despised "peasantry" jis 
the British were pleased to call them, had outfought 
the veteran troops of the king at Lexington and 
Bunker Hill. It was shown, and the showing has 
been many times repeated, that, as a fighter, the 
American soldier has no superior. 

27. Washington, Commander-in-Chief. 

Two days before this battle, John Adams of Massa- 
chusetts, he who was yet to l)e President of the 
United States, rose in Congress and said, "]\Ir. 
President: We need a Commander-in-Chief, to plan 
our campaigns and direct our armies, in the great 
war upon which we are entering. WTio is better 
fitted to be our chief than George Washington of 
Virginia?" Washington was appointed General- 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 43 

in-Chief of the Continental Army, June 15, 1775, and 
he at once went to Cambridge, and took command. 
The Congress had made a wise choice. 




GKORGE WASHINGTON. 
After a painting by Gilbert Stuart. 



By order of Congress, troops were sent to Cam- 
bridge from the colonies of the far South, so that it 



44 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

should m11 the more appear, that the army there was 
truly a Continental one, and not a body of New 
England troops alone. 

Washington's task was not a light one. There was 
but little discipline among the Continentals. The 
jealous}^ of each other, felt by the colonies, showed 
itself in camp. Each soldier seemed to think first 
of his colony, and then of the cause. Desire for pro- 
motion is natural to soldiers, no matter what they 
fight for. There w^ere wranglings for rank, and 
bickerings for preferment, among the volunteer 
troops, and there was but little firm authority to 
rule the men. 

Winter came. There were hardships, of course. 
" Fight ! fight ! Why don't you fight?" was the cry to 
Washington. But what had he to fight with? 
Muskets cannot be loaded and fired with sand. Can- 
non were needed, and powder and ball, to load them 
with; and nothing could be done toward driving the 
British from Boston until these could be had. 

28. Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 

Meantime, others than the troops before Boston 
were busy. There were cannon, plenty of them, in 
old forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, taken from 
the French in the war a few years before. These 
forts had been taken by hard}^ farmers led by 
Allen and Stark, in ^lay, and by the time the snows 
of winter came, rude sleds had been made and hun- 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 45 

dreds of oxen were slowly dragging precious loads of 
cannon, powder and ball from Vermont toward Cam- 
bridge. Stores of powder were also coming from far- 
away Georgia. Not only were these things being done ; 
privateers were scouring the sea in search of British 
ships, on their way to Boston with stores of war 
supplies. Thus, were the fishermen of New England 
taking their revenge for being robbed by the king, 
of their rights to fish. " If we are not allowed to 
fish we will not be idle," they said. One of these 
privateers captured a British brig loaded with powder 
and it was very welcome. Answering the Tories, 
who had asked them where they were to get war- 
stores, the patriots said: "We will help ourselves to 
the stores of the enemy." 

When the great guns came, and powder and l^all 
with w^hich to load them, Washington was ready to 
attack Howe, who had taken Gage's place in com- 
mand of Boston. 

29. The Attempt to take Montreal and Quebec. 

It was planned by the British, that while the Conti- 
nental army was busy in besieging Gage in Boston, a 
British force should come south from Canada into 
the colony of New York. Washington learned of 
this, and decided that the best way to upset the 
plan, was to attack Montreal and Quebec. He sent 
General Montgomery with a small force by way of 
Lake Champlain to take jMontreal. Montgomery 



46 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

took the city. At the same time, Benedict Arnold, 
who had shown that he was skillful and brave, was 
sent with a still smaller force, through the woods of 
Maine, to take Quebec. Montgomery was to join 
him after taking jMontreal. Arnold's men suffered 
dreadfully on the way and were much delayed in 
reaching Quebec. A little more than half of them got 
there, at length, and were joined by Montgomery's 
force. The attack was made on the last day of the 
year 1775, and it failed. JMontgomery was killed and 
Arnold badly wounded. Montgomery was a young 
Irishman who had fought bravely in the French and 
Indian War. His monument stands in St. Paul's 
churchyard. New York City. 

30. Dorchester Heights. 

For some reason. General Gage, after taking 
Breed's Hill, neglected to take Dorchester Heights, 
the other hill that commanded the city. General 
Howe, who followed him in command, was equally 
neglectful. Howe woke up one morning, to see that 
his neglect was to cost him dearly. Washington, now 
supi)li(Ml with heavy cannon, was ready to move. 
He had been firing on the cit}' all night, from various 
works around it, all of which was very puzzling to the 
British officers. "What does it mean?" said one to 
another. 

While the British, bewildered by the firing, kept 
marching about all night, from point to point, to 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 47 

meet possible attacks from Washington's forces, he 
was busy moving two thousand men to Dorchester 
Heights, which he fortified and planted with cannon. 
When day broke, Howe saw that he must attack the 
Continentals on the hill, or stand a terrible cannonade 
from it, or move his army from the city. 

The British had taken one New England hill. 
They had learned in sorrow what such hills cost. 
Howe thought that, rather than attack Dorchester 
Heights, it would be better to give up the city. It 
was arranged between Howe and Washington, that 
if Howe would withdraw from Boston, doing no 
harm to the city, and leaving his war-stores, and 
would move quickly, Washington would withhold 
his fire and let him go. 

The British troops went aboard ship, together with 
a great many Tories of the city, and sailed for Halifax, 
March 17, 1776. Next day the city was entered b}^ 
Washington and his troops. No armed enemy has 
ever set foot in Boston since. 

31. War in the Carolinas. 

Baffled in New England, where his troops dared not 
come out of Boston to fight, the king decided to wage 
war in the colonies far distant. Before Washington 
took Boston, a fleet bearing an army was sent from 
that port to meet another from England, under Sir 
Peter Parker. These were to move against the 
Carolinas. • The descendants of those Scotch High- 



48 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

landers who, long ago, had settled in North Carolina, 
were mostly Tories who might be depended on to 
fight for the king. It was the plan that an armed 
force of these was to march to the coast and join the 
British troops landing from the fleet. 

But something happened. A body of patriot 
troops fell upon the Tory force and destroyed it, 
capturing all its stores and a great sum of gold. 
Learning of this, Sir Peter kept on with the fleet and 
tried to take Charleston, South Carolina. But, no 
enemy has ever been able to take Charleston by 
attack from sea. Both fleet and army were soundly 
whipped, and the}^ went away discouraged. This 
happened late in June, 1776. 

32. The War in New York and New Jersey. 

Hardly had the last sail of the British ships passed 
from sight, bearing troops from Boston to Halifax, 
when Washington made ready to move his army to 
New York. He knew that the British generals 
would probably try to capture and control the Hud- 
son River, and thus separate New England from the 
rest of the colonies. He saw that the next fighting 
was to be in or about the city of New York, and he 
meant to be there with his men. 

While the Americans were fighting for their rights, 
they did not cease trying to obtain them by milder 
measures. As late as in August, 1775, the Congress 
sent a messenger to plead with the king and Parlia- 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 49 

ment for consideration. The king would not even 
read the petition. "These Americans are rebels," 
he said, "and I will whip them first and talk with 
them afterwards. I will keep sending troops until 
I have force enough in America to conquer those 
who dare to take up arms against me." 

He would send troops ! But where was he to get 
them? England had not yet ceased to feel the strain 
of the long war she had made against France and 
the other nations, by which she won Canada. Many 
of the people of England were opposed to the wicked 
war he was making against Englishmen in America. 
He could not get English troops enough for his 
purpose. Englishmen would not enlist. Many of 
his officers refused to serve in such a war. He 
begged kings and emperors and princes of other 
nations, to let him have their soldiers for hire, to go 
to America and fight his battles for him. 

33. The Hessians. 

At last he succeeded. Some unfit men, whom fate 
had made rulers over petty provinces, in Germany, 
were short of money to carry on their wicked ways 
of life. Among their unfortunate subjects were 
soldiers. They ordered their regiments to go to 
America to fight for the British king, in a quarrel 
which was not theirs. Thus, for money, they sent 
thousands of Hessian soldiers away to be killed, much 
as a farmer might send away his pigs to be butchered. 



50 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

34. Independence. 

The coming of the Hessians made the Americans 
angrier than ever. They had been fighting for their 
rights under the king. Now they began to talk of 
cutting loose from England foreyer. They began to 
declare for Independejice. They would haye nothing 
to do with such a king, but would start the colonies 
as a new nation, or a number of new nations. " We 
must fight it through," said a patriot to Benjamin 
Franklin, as together they signed the Declaration of 
Independence. "We must hang together." "If we 
do not hang together, "said Frankhn, " we shall surely 
hang separately." 

In the early part of the year 1776, there was much 
talk of making the struggle a war for independence. 
Wise men among the patriots saw that this was the 
proper thing to do. England had her foes. There 
was joy in France, oyer the trouble England was 
haying with her colonies, and a hope that she would 
be humbled. The French had not forgotten their 
defeat by England. They were not idle. French 
spies were in America; French money had been sent 
to keep up the rebeUion. It was understood that, 
at the proper time, France might openl}^ help the 
Americans, eyen though such help might mean a 
war with England. 

But to openty fight for the colonies against their 
home goyernment, was a thing the French nation 
did not w^ish to do. If the colonies were a nation, 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 51 

fighting another nation, France might feel free to 
take sides with it, and leading Americans were not 
slow to say that the colonies ought to declare them- 
selves free from English control forever, and set up a 
new nation. ' ^In this way," they said, 'Sve may get aid 
from France." 

By the middle of the j^ear, it was seen that the time 
had come to act, and, in June, a committee was ap- 
pointed to prepare a Declaration of Independence, 
and another to prepare a series of laws for the 
government of the nation, to be called "Articles of 
Confederation." Thomas Jefferson was a member 
of the committee, and he wrote the Declaration. It 
was adopted by Congress in 1776, July 4, the day we 
now celebrate every year as our greatest holiday. 

35. Declaration of Independence. 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

A Declaration hy thpj Representatives of the Uniieu 
States of America, in Congress Assembled. 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary 
for one people to dissolve the political bands which have con- 
nected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of 
the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of 
nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the 
opinions of mankind requiresthat they should declare the causes 
which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident — that all men are 
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with cer- 



52 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

tain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, govern- 
ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from 
the consent of the governed ; that, whenever any form of govern- 
ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the 
people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government 
laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its 
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect 
their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that 
governments long established should not be changed for light 
and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown 
that mankind are more disposed to sutler, while evils are suffer- 
able, than to right themselves by aI)olishing the forms to which 
they are accustomed. But when a long train of alnises and 
usurpations, pin-suing invarial)ly the same object, evinces a 
design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their 
right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to pro- 
vide new guards for their future security. Such has been the 
patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to alter their former systems of govern- 
ment. The history of the present king of (Ireat liritain is a 
history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct 
object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these 
States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

1. He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and 
necessary for the public good. 

2. He has for])idden his governors to pass laws of immediate 
and pressing importance, imless suspended in their operations 
till his assent should be obtained and, when so suspended, he 
has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

3. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation 
of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish 
the right of representation in the Legislature — a right inesti- 
mable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 53 

4. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, 
uncomfortal)le, and distant from the repository of their pul)lic 
records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
with his measures. 

5. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for 
opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the 
people. 

6. He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to 
cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, incap- 
able of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their 
exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all 
the dangers of invasions from without, and convulsions within. 

7. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 
States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for the naturaliza- 
tion of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their 
migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropria- 
tions of lands. 

8. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refus- 
ing his assent to laws for estal)lishing judiciary powers. 

9. He has made judges dejoendent on his will alone for the 
tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their 
salaries. 

10. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither 
swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their sub- 
stance. 

1 1 . He has kept among us in t imes of peace, standing armies, 
without the consent of our Legislatures. 

12. He has affected to render the militar}- independent of, 
and superior to, the civil power. 

13. He has combined with others to subject us to a juris- 
diction foreign to our constitutions, and unacknowledged l)y 
our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation; 

14. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; 

15. For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment 



54 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

for any murders which they .shoukl commit on the inhabitants 
of these States; 

16. For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; 

17. For imposing taxes on us without our consent ; 

18. For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of a trial 
by jury; 

19. For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried forpretended 
offenses; 

20. For abolishing the free s^-tem of English laws in a neigh- 
boring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, 
and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an exam- 
ple and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule 
into these colonies; 

21. For taking away our charters, aboIisluDg our most valu- 
able laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our govern- 
ments; 

22. For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring 
themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases 
whatsoever. 

23. He has abdicated government here, ])y declaring us out 
of his protection, and waging war against us. 

24. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned 
our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 

25. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign 
mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and 
tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and 
perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most l)arbarous ages, and 
totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

26. He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive 
on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become 
the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall them- 
selves by their hands. 

27. He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has 
endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merci- 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 55 

less Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undis- 
tinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for 
redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have 
l)een answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose char- 
acter is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is 
unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in oiu* attentions to our British 
brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts 
by their legislatures to extend an unwarrantal)!e jurisdiction 
over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of 
our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their 
native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by 
the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, 
which would inevitably interrupt our connections and corre- 
spondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice 
and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the 
necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as 
we hold the rest of mankind — enemies in war; in peace, friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of 
America in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Su- 
preme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, 
do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these 
colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies 
are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that 
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and 
that all political connection betweenthem and the state of Great 
Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved, and that, as free 
and independent States, they have full power to levy war, con- 
clude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all 
other acts and things which independent States may of right do. 
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on 
the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to 
each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 



56 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

The act of Congress in thus declaring the colonies 
to be a nation among nations, was hailed with great 
rejoicing in all the land. The Continental soldiers 
in New York City, were formed in parade and the 
Declaration was read to them. The people were wild 
with joyous excitement. There was no need for a 
king ; people could govern themselves. They declared 
that George III of England was a foreigner and a 
stranger. The king's statue, made of lead, stood on 
Bowling Green. "That lead is wasted as a statue of 
the King of England," said the crowd, "we will make 
it useful." So they pulled it down, chopped it up, 
and cast the metal into bullets to be fired at the 
king's soldiers. 

There were now no British colonies in America. 
They had l)ecome States. They were united to defend 
themselves. They were the United States of America. 
So said the patriots : but the King and the Tories were 
not ready to admit this. 

36. Washington's Movements. 

While Congress was giving its time to the making 
of a nation, Washington and his men were struggling 
at New York against a powerful English army helped 
by a strong British war fleet. Washington had 
arrived in April, and in June, Howe had come from 
Halifax with the troops that Washington had driven 
out of Boston, and had encamped on Staten Island. 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 57 

A little later still, Howe's brother, Admiral Howe, 
had come to New York with the British fleet. 

Washington saw that the plan of the British was 
to hold the Hudson River from New York, and to 
control the Lake Champlain valley from Canada, and 
thus fence off rebellious New England from the rest 
of the king's colonies. 'The rebels are not so stub- 
born outside of New England," said the king. "We 
will bring them to terms and then go back and have 
a reckoning with those fellows who have fought us 
in Massachusetts." 

Upon a number of hills southwest of Brooklyn, 
over which the city has since spread, Washington 
built earth-works in which to fight when the British 
attack should come. He also built works above 
New York, and in a general way prepared for defen- 
sive fighting for the Hudson River, should he be 
driven back from Long Island. 

37. The Battle of Long Island. 

Late in August, Howe crossed to Long Island from 
Staten Island, and badly defeating the Americans, 
drove them back into their works on Brooklyn 
Heights. Dreading to attack the entrenchments, 
Howe sought to surround the Americans with his 
greater force, and lay siege to their works. In 
Washington's arm}^, there were many men from 
along-shore in New England, who were skillful boat- 
men. To them was given the task of rowing the 



58 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

troops across the East River from Brooklyn to New 
York. On August 29, 1776, a foggy night, such as is 
still common in New York Harbor, they performed 
their task and the American army was moved to 
Manhattan Island, escaping capture. 

38. Retreat to Harlem. 

Pressed now by a force much stronger than his 
own, Washington, checking his pursuers A\ith great 
skill, fell slowly back. Against the British army he 
might have held his own. But the army and the 
fleet together were too strong for him. British 
troops were sent by ship up the East River, where 
they landed behind his force, and he had to retreat 
again. He had built a fort on Harlem Heights called 
Fort Washington. Seeing that he could not hold it, 
he ordered his troops to leave it, but his orders were 
not obeyed. The fort was taken by the British and 
a large part of the garrison was captured. 

It was now the middle of November. For weeks, 
Washington had held the enemy in check, some 
severe fighting being done at White Plains. Fort 
Washington on one side of the Hudson, and Fort Lee 
on the other, had been built to keep the British fleet 
from going up the river. Soon after the fall of Fort 
Washington, Fort Lee, on the New Jersey side, was 
abandoned. 

The loss of these forts gave control of the lower 
Hudson to the British for some distance, but works 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 59 

had been built at West Point, so strong that the 
fleet could not pass them, and so the Hudson, as a 
whole, was still held l^y the .Americans. Though 
driven away from New York City, with heavy loss, 
Washington still held what he had been fighting for. 
The fort at West Point was now the key to the 
Hudson River, and was the most important point in 
the whole country. To lose it, would ruin the 
patriot cause. 

39. Washington Enters New Jersey. 

Washington crossed the Hudson into New Jersey, 
with a portion of his army. His plan was to escape 
the enemy on the New York side, and, at the same 
time, be ready to check General C'ornwallis, in New 
Jersey, whose force threatened Philadelphia. He 
ordered his second in command. General Charles Lee, 
to l3ring over the rest of the army to help him. 

Unknown to Washington, or to an}^ others of the 
patriots, Lee was a traitor. He was an adventurer? 
a soldier of fortune, ready to fight in any cause where 
rank and profit could l^e gained. He was engaged in 
the war through selfish ambition and not through 
patriotism. He had sought the chief command, and 
was jealous of Washington to whom it had been 
given. He had hopes that Washington might fail 
so that he could take his place, and he meant to 
make him fail, if he could. He did not come on with 
his command, and so Washington was forced to give 



60 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



up his plan of fighting CornwaUis. Instead of winning 
a victory as he had hoped, Washington with his part 




GENERAL CORNWALLIS. 



of the army fell back across New Jersey, pressed ])y 
the British troops. He crossed the Delaware Kiver 
into Pennsylvania. Lee's command crossed into 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 61 

New Jersey and remained in the northern part of the 
State to defend the Hudson. Lee himself was taken 
prisoner by the British, very soon after this, and it was 
a long time before he was exchanged. 

The King seemed to be gaining against the patriots. 
Cornwallis's army was driving Washington's. People 
in New Jersey were giving up to the king; men were 
deserting by hundreds from Washington's army, 
because they were worn out and discouraged. Con- 
gress, fearful of capture, moved from Philadelphia to 
Baltimore. At the end of the year, the time for 
which many of the soldiers had enlisted would have 
passed, and many who would not desert, could then 
feel free to go to their homes. Thus Washington's 
army became small and weak and would soon be 
still smaller and weaker. Something must be done, 
and done quickly, or the Rebellion would be crushed, 
and the Declaration of Independence be made a 
by-word. 

It was now December, and very near to Christmas 
time. Washington's little force was on the Pennsyl- 
vania side of the Delaware River in one body, while 
the troops of Cornwallis were in several bodies on 
the New Jersey side. A force of Hessians was at 
Trenton. 

40. Battle of Trenton. 

Washington had been wise enough to seize all the 
boats that were to be had along the Delaware, for 



62 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



many miles. Thus he could cross the river at will, 
while the British could not cross for want of boats. 
He could go over and attack them, much more easily 
than they could come over and attack him. 

The British, by a long run of success, had come to 
think that the war was nearly over. "In a few 




BATTLE OF TRENTON. 



days," they said, "the rebel army will melt away. 
There will not be much more fighting." They did 
not yet know Washington's wonderful genius and 
skill as a general. He had his mind on those Hes- 
sians at Trenton. 

It was the custom of the Hessian people both at 
home and abroad, to have a good time at Christmas, 
with much eating and much drinking. Christmas 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 63 

night this year, was bitter cold, with snow and sleet. 
The Delaware was full of floating ice. "There is no 
danger," said the Hessians. "Washington and his 
men are on the other side of the river, far away, 
shivering and starving. We will eat, drink, and be 
merry." 

That night a Tory spy came across the river to 
Trenton and sought the commander of the troops. 
He found him, at last, at a party, half-drunk and 
very merry. "Here!" said the spy as he handed 
him a paper, "here is important news." The com- 
mander took the paper and put it in his pocket with- 
out reading it, and, muddled with drink as he was, 
forgot it. Next day, the paper was found on his 
dead body, unopened. It was a warning, that Wash- 
ington's army was crossing the river to attack Tren- 
ton. 

There was no Christmas cheer that night in Wash- 
ington's camp. His men, half-shod, half-clothed, 
half-fed, were plodding along through snow and sleet, 
over frozen ground, to the river and across. All 
suffered much, and some perished from the cold. 
On the morning after Christmas, they were at Tren- 
ton and rushed to the attack. The Hessians, unfit 
to fight, quickly gave up. More than a thousand 
prisoners were taken and what was more important, 
a wealth of war supphes, worth more to the patriots 
than gold. 

In this battle, General Greene, of Rhode Island, 



64 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

was very helpful, foreshowing the skill that was yet 
to make him famous as Washington's right arm, in 
the fighting that was to come. There was a young 
soldier there, James Monroe, who was one day to be 
President of the nation he was fighting for. 

Moving quickly, for he knew it was dangerous to 
remain on the same side of the river with the rest 
of Cornwallis's army, Washington recrossed the river 
with the captured Hessians and the spoils of war. 

It was a wonderful victory. It put new hope into 
the hearts of the patriot soldiers. "We will stay," 
they cried, "even though our time of service ends 
at New Year's Day. We will stay. Get for us a 
little of the money that is due and we will stand by 
the general that can work wonders with us." 

In Philadelphia, lived a very wealthy man named 
Robert Morris. His heart was in the cause. Wash- 
ington begged him to raise some money for the 
soldiers. With what he gave himself and what 
he got from his friends, Morris raised $50,000 and 
sent it to Washington who paid it to his men. By 
this time, Washington had come back to Trenton 
and encamped. 

The loss of the Hessians made Cornwallis active. 
He began to close in on Washington with his troops 
and at length fronted him with a much greater force 
at Trenton. One night, January 2, 1777, when he 
had his arrangements all made, he saw Washington's 
camp-fires twinkling in the darkness, and he said, 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 65 

" I will bag the old fox in the morning." That night 
his watchful men saw the patriot camp-fires burning 
all night long. They could hear sounds, as of men 
digging to make earth-works, and so they reported 
to Cornwallis. "Earth-works will not save them," 
said he. "In a few hours they will all be dead or 
prisoners." 

With the coming of daylight the British advanced 
in battle lines, to take an easy victory. But, the 
"old fox" and his men had vanished, even as they 
had vanished before from Brooklyn Heights. 

41. Battle of Princeton. 

Where were they? The dull booming of distant 
cannon, that the wind brought, told Cornwallis only 
too well where they were. They were at Princeton, 
where they had surprised and defeated the British 
force that was encamped there. 

Leaving a few men to keep up the camp fires, and 
a few to make a noise as of digging, to deceive the 
enemy, Washington had moved away early in the 
night, and at daybreak had fallen upon the troops 
at Princeton. He had fooled Cornwallis. Instead 
of fighting a hopeless battle at Trenton, he was win- 
ning a brilliant victory at Princeton and capturing 
a great number of prisoners. 

Washington's second victory forced the British 
to give up their purpose of taking Philadelphia, and 
made them fall back to New York. He had regained 



66 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

New Jersey, and he now threatened the British at 
New York. The Hudson River was now, more than 
ever, safely in the hands of the Americans. If the 
kite weeks in 1776 had been gloomy, the earlv ones 
of 1777 were glorious, and all through the wonderful 
genius of Washington. 

42. Benjamin Franklin. 

Soon after the Declaration of Independence, 
Franklin went to France, to plead for help for the 
new nation. It was a hard task. France hated 
England and was ready to fight her, but would not 
engage in the war, initil it could be shown that the 
Americans could do their part. While CornwaUis 
was chasing Washington, and the Americans seemed 
ready to give up the struggle, France was not inclined 
to give open aid. But now the victories of Trenton 
and Princeton showed that the Americans could do 
their part. Franklin began to make headway in his 
work. 

There was much sympathy for the patriots in 
Europe. Officers skilled in the art of war l)egan 
coming to America, to serve under Washington. 
Lafayette was one; so were Baron De Kalb, Baron 
Steuben, Kosciusko, and others less famous. Money 
was loaned freely in France and in Holland, to Con- 
gress, and Franklin was promisecLfar greater help, if 
the patriots could but hold out a Uttle longer. 



68 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

43. The Campaign in New York State in 1777. 

So far in the war, the king had failed. His troops 
had been driven from New England; he had failed 
to take the Hudson; he had failed to take Phila- 
delphia; he had failed to get a foothold in the South. 
His force was on the defensive in and about New 
York Cit}^, with Washington threatening it. 

For 1777, the king's war managers planned a 
great threefold movement; which was to gain control 
of the Hudson and to carry the war into New Eng- 
land. They had ceased to consider the rebels a weak 
enemy, and they prepared to make their mightiest 
effort to put them down. They would take the 
Hudson, cont^uer New England, and then work south 
from New York. It was all planned in England, 
and the orders were sent to the generals in America. 
This was the plan: 

One army, under General Burgoyne, was to make 
its way south from Canada, by Lake Champlain to 
Albany, at the head of navigation on the Hudson. 

Another army, under Col. St. Leger, was to go, by 
vessel, up the St. Lawrence and into Lake Ontario; 
and from there was to make its way eastward 
through the Mohawk Valley to Albany. 

Yet another army, under General Wilham Howe, 
was to move from New York City, and make its way 
north to Albany. 

The Iro(|uois Indians were on the English side, and 
it was expected that many of them would join Bur- 



RE\'()LUTIONARY WAR 69 

goyne and St. Leger as they advanced. Many of 
them did join. Indeed, St. Leger's force wds very 
largely made up of Tories and Indians. 

44. Employment of Savages. 

This employment of savages to fight for the king's 
cause was as foolish as it was cruel. The Americans 
fought the more furiously, against an enemy that 
would employ blood-thirsty savages. 

The Indians themselves, angered at the attempts 
to stop them from murdering women and children, 
(|uit the king's troops at the first sign of real fighting 
and disappeared. 

The three armies were to join at Albany as a center, 
each having won its victorious way, punishing the 
rebels as it came. The whole, united as one grand 
army, was then to be free to move where it could do 
most harm to the rebel cause. 

Burgoyne's army was the best armed force the 
English had ever put in the field. The muskets, 
cannon, wagons, tents and all other things needful, 
were of the very latest and best patterns, far better 
than any that the Americans had. He started with 
eight thousand men, and was joined on the way 
by a body of several hundred Indians. He landed 
and easily took Fort Ticonderoga. He went on 
through the woods, trying to overtake the Americans, 
who had retreated to Fort George. General Schuyler 
was in his front with a small army of Americans, 



70 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



striving not so much to tight him, as to dela}^ his 
march nnd wear out his men. The Americans 




GENERAL BURGOYNE. 



l)unie(l l)ri(lges, felled great trees across the roads, 
filled the fords in the streams and flooded the valleys, 
and in every way hindered the advance of the 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR ' 71 

British. There was but little food to be had lor man 
or beast, and Burgoyiie with great alarm saw his 
supplies decrease. So well did the Americans do 
their work, that for three weeks, the British gained 
scarcely a mile a day. At length Fort Edward was 
reached, but the men were suffering for food and the 
horses were used up. It was a bad beginning of the 
great threefold movement. 

As it happened, there was, over in Vermont at 
Bennington not far away, large stores of supplies 
gathered Ijv the Americans for their troops. Tory 
spies told Burgoyne about them and he was greatly 
pleased. "I wdll send a force right over there and 
get them," he said. "They are just w^hat we need. 
The rebels are very kind to get them together, where 
we can so easily capture them." He sent a thousand 
of his Hessian troops under Col. Baum to Bennington 
to get the supplies, and at the same time to stir up 
the Tories around there, and get them to join his 
force. 

45. Bennington. 

It was the same old British mistake over again. 
He underrated the New England farmer, as a fighting 
man. The farmers, under Stark, met the Hessians 
at Bennington, and killed or captured about all of 
them, August 16, 1777. Instead of the Tories join- 
ing Burgoyne, many of them, maddened by the 
stories they had heard of the dreadful deeds of his 



72 SllolM' \MI INt \\ Hlsroin 

liuliaiis. (unu'tl [>;ilru>ts .iiul joiiu-d I lie AuuMir.iii 
.Mrmy lo liiiln lum. I-'rum (IkmI inoiiuMit Sc1hi\ Km-'s 



46. St. Leger. 

\\ luM't^ \\;is Si. L(\U(M"'s ;ii-m\? It hnil slnrti^l, 
.'U'l'orilini;- lo tlu> plnn, tVoin (>s\v(\i;o imi iho Inkc. It 
n\:\dv its wny down tlu' Moh.-iwk \';ill(\\ until it 
iwu'IuhI {\\v \Hnu{ wUcw lunv stniuls tlu^ ('it v ot' l\o!iu\ 
Xow \"ofk. Thon* it ciiiuv to ,1 Un-i caWvil Vovi 
SrluixltM-. wlucli was l:it(M- i'mIUhI I'oii St;m\vix. St. 
l.(\i;iM' sIoj>{hh1 \\v\v to \:\kc t ho loiM . Miulinu- it too 
stroiiii' to ho oniTicHi with ;i rush, hi^ took tinio to 
surrouuii it nnd try to stni-\o out its tl(M\Mul(M-s. This 
iinvo \\\c pntrit^s of tlinl j>Mrt of lh(^ ccnnitry ;i ch.Miu't^ 
to iiatluM-. .-nul 'A iow'c undor (ItMUM'.-d lUM'kinuM' 
ni;iri'ht>l to ;itt.U'k St. L<\i;vr. 

Ilu^ Indians loanioil of llorkinuM's :ulvniu'(\ and 
witli a part t>f St. Loi^er's white tn>ops tliey attacked 
him. at a plaee called (^riskany. TIum'i^ was a \hm'v 
tiiM\'e lvitll(\ in which llcM-kinuM- was mortally 
wi)undeil. I'lu^ hulians wen^ driven olT, hut IhM'ki- 
n\er's force was {00 weak to [nirsiu^ them. 

\\'hile tlu^ hesieiiiui!; fc^-ci^ was weaktMuni 1\\' the 
absenci^ o( {\\osc who h;id i^om^ to tiiiht lTerkimei\ 
the Amei'ii'ans in tlu^ fc^rt rushiul out and ovtMTan 
St. l.eii"tM"'s camp, cari'yiu!;- hack into the fcH't much 
plundiM-. 

Schu\ Um\ facine; HuriioxMU^ heard o\' the daui^tu" to 



REVOLCTlONAIiY WAR T', 

I'oH, S(;hijyl('r, ;ifid s<'nt '.i .small \(}\va- \u\(\(\v (\('A\(',r.i\ 
Arnold to lir-lp Wcrk'Mucr aud tho ganisrjD. Arr)r>ld 
by a Hhrowd trick, causfid St. Ij'f^ar to think that ho 
waH about to ix; r>vf;rwholrnr;rl by a ^n^^it army. 
Hi.s InrliariH nm ;i,way, /irjd \i(t with Jjis troops fol- 
lowed, nr)t stoppinj^ urjtil all wr^rr; .safe in C'ana,d;i. 
So r^ndod tluit pnrt of tho groat throe-fold rnovomrjrjt. 

47. Howe's Army. 

\\ horo w'.iH thf: thirrl 'irrny, Hr>wo'H 'irmy, that waH 
to oomo from \ow York (.'ity up th(^ HudHon, tho 
groatx^st amriy of tho throo? It wa« noodod now, for 
St. I/;^or'H forw! had v;i.ni.shod, arjd H\it%()ytut^H whh 
\u fircAii troublo, and yot vory far from Albany, whoro 
tho n.rmir;H wf;ro to mof;t. T\i(', third army, had it 
^ono forwarrl as waH ox[x;ot/;d, would \\:iv('. holf>orJ 
tho rjthor twr> ^roatly, for it would hju'f kopi tljo 
Amorioans buHy and thuH might have saved Hurgoyno. 
nnd St. I/'gr-r from attaok. Hut it nf^vor ntarlod. 

Thf; troaohe^rrjUH Gr;nr;ral (.'hark^s \jte, ho who had 
fofu.s^Hl to holp Washington, and who had lx?on takon 
by thf British, wa« a prlsonor in \ow York. Not 
Husjx^otxfd of Ix'ing a traitor, by thr* Amorioans, he 
was busy tellirjg tho British general, all ho know 
about tho Amorioan army, and a^Jvising him what 
to do to rlofoat it. 

"Take Philadelphia," he Haid U) Howe. "Wash- 
ington hfis sr^rjt so many rrjon jigainst liurgoyno that 
ho has weakened his fora^. You can rnakf' a da«h and 



74 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

take Philadelpiiia, and l)e back suuii enough to go 
up the Hudson, according to the plan, and join St. 
Leger and Burgoyne at Albany." By a blunder in 
England, Howe had not received his orders to go up 
the Hudson, and thus there was an excuse for his not 
going, so he decided to try the Philadelphia move- 
ment. 

48. Howe Moves Against Philadelphia. 

Howe set out ])y land, but Washington })locked 
his way, and made him give up the land route and 
go l)y water. The war-ships carried his force of 
18,000 men up Chesapeake Bay to Maryland and 
from there he marched on Philadelphia. But Wash- 
ington had been ]:)usy. He had moved from New 
York, and his army stood between Howe and Phila- 
delphia. 

Now, in the summer of 1777, there was active work 
going on in two widely distant fields. Schuyler, near 
Saratoga, was facing Burgoyne, while Washington 
challenged Howe's army to battle near Philadelphia. 
The British had, as yet gained nothing. France was 
watching, hoping that the Americims would win such 
a victory as would make it safe for her to openly 
join in the war against her old enemy, England. 

Howe advanced, and was checked by Washington 
at the Brandywine River, at a crossing place called 
Chad's Ford. After a severe battle, in whicli the 
British suffered most, their stronger force compelled 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 75 

Washington to fall back, and Howe entered Phila- 
delphia in September. 

Washington saw to it that Howe could not get 
back to New York, to send a force up the Hudson 
to help Burgoyne. He attacked Howe at German- 
town just outside of Philadelphia, October 4, and 
though he did not win a victory, he taught Howe 
that he could spare no troops for New York, or the 
Hudson River. It was far better for the patriot 
cause, for Howe's army to be in Philadelphia, than 
in New York. Howe's failure to go to the help of 
Burgoyne, sealed the fate of Burgoyne's army, for it 
was now l)eset so strongly that, not daring to advance, 
it stood at bay, hard pressed by Schujder's forces. 

49. Burgoyne at Saratoga. 

On September 19, Burgoyne made a desperate 
attempt to fight his w^ay clear, in a battle near Sara- 
toga. Neither army gained a victory. On October 
7, he tried it again, with no better success. He fell 
back to Saratoga and there, on the 17th, he sur- 
rendered his army. General Gates, a political plotter, 
had caused Congress to put him in command in 
place of Schuyler, so the surrender was made to him. 
The credit of the victory was really due to Schuyler, 
with Arnold and ]\Iorgan who served under him. 

Thus far, 1777 had been a glorious year for the 
Americans. The)" had won several victories and 
had captured an entire British army. Franklin, still 



76 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

working in France, asked the French how much more 
the Americans must do, to show that they could per- 
form their part in a joint war against England. So 
much was promised Franklin, that he sent word to 
Congress that very soon France would cease to give 
stealthy help, and would become the open ally of the 
United States. 

50. Valley Forge. 

It mattered little where the British army was, 
Washington's part was to hover near it, threatening 
it all the time, thus keeping it from l)eing active. 
The British gained nothing in taking Philadelphia; 
they would have been better off at New York. Con- 
gress could work as well in another city as it could in 
Philadelphia. 

Winter was coming, and Washington went into 
winter quarters with his men, at a place about twenty 
miles from Philadelphia, called Valley Forge. From 
there he could watch Howe and attack him if he 
moved. It was a hard winter. While the British 
troops were well clad and well housed in Philadelphia, 
Washington's men, living in huts, and onlv half 
supplied with food and clothes, suffered terribly. 
There are worse things to bear in army life, than 
fighting. The heroism of the Continental soldiers 
was more severely tested by that dreadful winter, 
than by all the fighting of the war. 

The winter was not wasted. Among the skillful 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 77 

officers that had come from Europe to help the 
Americans, was Baron Steuben. All winter, when- 
ever the weather was mild enough to permit it, he 
taught the soldiers the drill of the Prussian army. 
When spring came, every man was a far better and 
more skillful soldier, than he was when he went into 
camp the fall before. The British learned this, to 
their cost, on more than one field during the year that 
followed. 

51. The Treaty with France. 

1775, 1776, 1777 had passed and 1778 opened full 
of promise to the Americans. Spring came, and no 
movements of importance took place. Franklin had 
succeeded, and a treaty had been made, in February, 
between France and the United States, under which 
the two nations were to fight England together. 
France loaned great sums of money to the Nation, and 
sent a naval fleet and a small army to America, to 
fight under the command of Washington. More than 
this: — France caused Spain to declare war against 
England. Thus, England was now fighting, single- 
handed, against three nations. 

There was sorrow in England and joy in America. 
Then it was that our first national song was heard 
and, "Yankee Doodle" was sung in every village and 
in every camp. The king ceased to he arrogant. 
He pleaded for peace. He would forgive the rebels. 
He would grant all that the colonies wanted. He 



78 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

would show them favoivs fur greater tliaii they had 
ever sought. He would do anything for the sake 
of peace with his dear colonies 

He was told that he had no colonies; that what had 
been his colonies, he had driven from him; and that 
they were now a nation among nations, at war with 
him. He was told that he would be fought in 
America, until he had withdrawn his last soldier, 
British and Hessian. 

52. English Leave Philadelphia Monmouth. 

By this time, General ('linton had taken the place 
of General Howe in command at Phila(lelj)hia, and 
Clinton was alarmed. He knew that if his army 
remained there until the French arrived, Washington 
would attack him, and that with a French fleet in 
the Delaware, he would he forced to surrender, as 
Burgoyne had been. In Juno, 1778, he started with 
his 17,000 men for New York. Washington caught 
his retreating army at Monmouth, New Jersey, and 
gave battle. But for one misfortune, he would have 
ruinously defeated Clinton. That misfortune was 
that General Charles I^e was again his second in 
command. Lee had been exchanged, and Washing- 
ton, not knowing of his treachery, had given him his 
old place. At Monmouth, Lee purposely spoiled the 
attack so that Clinton's army escaped, though it 
suffered seriously. With what was left of his force, 
Clinton reached New York. For his crime, Lee was 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 79 

driven out of the ariuy. Not until many years after 
peace was declared, was it known what a wicked 
traitor Lee had been. Monmouth was the last im- 
portant battle that took place in the North. 

Washington followed Clinton and, unable to bring 
him to battle, crossed the Hudson and encamped at 
White Plains. Thus he continued to watch and to 
threaten the British army, at New York as he had 
at Philadelphia. For nearly two years, he held the 
English army idle, at New York, while the war went 
on at other points. 

53. The Iroquois Indians. 

From early settlement days, the Iroquois, other- 
wise called 'The Six Nations," were the friends of 
the English as against the French, and in the great 
rebellion, they fought with the English and Tories, 
against the patriots. They had fought with St. 
Leger and Burgoyne, and in 1778, in parts of New 
York State and Pennsylvania, they and the Tories 
fought together against the patriots with horrible 
savagery. In 1779, . Washington sent an army to 
punish these Tories and Indians; and their ])ands 
were ])roken up. Then a raid was made on the 
homes of the Six Nations. Their farms, orchards and 
houses were destroyed. This left the Indians exposed 
to a severe winter and they fled to Canada. Their 
hardships and sickness were so severe that their 



so SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

power was broken forever. The Great Six Nations 
ceased to exist. 

54. The West. 

Virginia, as a colony, had claimed a great extent 
of land beyond the mountains in the West. Foresee- 
ing that England was to be beaten in the war, Patrick 
Hem-y, who was governor of Virginia, sent a force 
to hold the lands, so that they might be claimed 
from England, when peace should be declared. This 
was in 1778, and the small force was commanded by 
George Rogers Clarke of Kentucky, which was then 
a part of Virginia. He captured some of the forts in 
the West that had been taken from the French, years 
before, and that were now held by a few British 
troops. After dreadful winter hardships, the brave 
Virginians captured and held Fort Vincennes in what 
is now Indiana, and the fort at Kaskaskia on the 
Mississippi River. Thus the Northwest was won ; for 
as Governor Henry had foreseen, it came to the young 
nation when peace was declared, because it was held 
by the Americans. The Mississippi River, instead of 
the Alleghany Mountains, became the western bound- 
ary of the early United Stntes, because of the capture 
of those forts. 

The British, as they saw the war going against 
them, lost courage and were filled with hatred for the 
rebels. As their hopes grew less, there came a desire 
to annoy, where they could not conquer. From 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 81 

New York, parties were sent out to rob people, bum 
dwellings, and destroy property. Parts of New 
England, New Jersey and Virginia suffered from 
these raids of malice. 

55. Arnold's Treason. 

The worst traitor of the war was Charles Lee, l^ut 
his treason was not well known until years later. 
Next to him, as a base betrayer of his country, was a 
man who, in the early part of the war, was one of its 
greatest heroes. General Benedict Arnold. He was 
the hero of Quebec, and he did more than any other 
to drive St. Leger back to Canada. He, more than 
any other, brought about the surrender of Burgoyne. 
He carried scars that were badges of honor, and he 
was admired and loved by Washington. Yet the 
day came, when he shamefully tried to ruin the cause 
for which he had so bravely fought. 

When appointed by Congress to take command of 
Schuyler's army at Saratoga, Gates became the com- 
mander of Arnold, who had been a general under 
Schuyler. Gates disliked Arnold and treated him 
badly, because Arnold knew how unfairly he had 
dealt with Schuyler. 

Washington, knowing Arnold's w^orth, and know- 
ing, too, how unjustly Gates had treated him, placed 
him in command of Philadelphia, when the city came 
back to the Americans, after Clinton ran away from 
it. It was a position of honor. While in command 



82 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

of the (nty, Arnold iiiel and iiiairi(>d a l)eautiful 
young lady belonging to a prominent Tory family. 
Still brooding over his wrongs, and thus brought 
under Tory influence, his ardor for his country 
cooled. He was naturally a spendthrift and he soon 
found himself in need of money. There were charges 
made that his accounts with the Government were 
not correct. After trial by court-martial, he was 
sentenced to be reprimanded by Washington. The 
Commander-in-Chief, mindful of Arnold's past services 
to the country, performed this unpleasant task as 
gentl}' as possible. Congress also had not treated 
Arnold fairly, placing men ahead of him in rank, and 
at one time withholding his pay for a year. Arnold, 
who was angry at this treatment, became bitter in his 
feelings towards his country. At length he turned 
traitor and sought revenge. He longed for a chance 
to strike a deadly blow to the patriot cause. Through 
his Torv friends, his desire was soon made known to 
the British, and they decided to use him. 

Of all things, the British most wanted to control 
the Hudson. To gain that control, they must hold 
the fort at West Point, but they dared not attack it. 
It was too strong to be taken. Arnold promised 
to get command of it and contrive that they should 
capture it. 

He asked Washington to give him conmiand of 
West Point, and Washington, glad to please him, 
granted his request. "I esteem you highly," said 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 83 

the great chieftain, "and 1 will du all that I can tu 
advance you." Arnold took connnand of West 
Point and, according to the bargain he had made with 
them, straightway arranged for its capture by the 
British. For his treachery he was to receive a large 
sum of money and was to be made a colonel in the 
British army. A young British officer, Major Andre, 
was sent by the English general to arrange for the 
taking of the fort. He was arrested near Tarrytown, 
on his way back to New York after a talk with Arnold, 
and papers concerning the plot were found upon him. 
Arnold, discovering that his treason was known, fled 
from the fort to a British ship in the river, and 
escaped. During the rest of the war he fought on 
the British side. After the war, the unfortunate 
man spent the rest of his life in loneliness, sorrow and 
remorse, and died in London without friends. Andre 
was hanged as a spy. 

56. John Paul Jones. 

But little fighting was done by the rebels on the 
ocean in the early years of the war. The thirteen 
vessels ordered by Congress, in 1775, were built; but 
so strong was the British nav}' that they never 
accomplished much. The most noted naval officer 
that the Americans had, was John Paid Jones, of 
Scottish birth, wJio commanded one of the thirteen 
vessels. The citizens of New Hampshire furnished a 
ship called " The Ranger" which, under his command, 



84 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

did much damage to England's shipping. Jones was 
a friend of Frankhn, and after France joined the 
United States in the war. Jones went to France in 





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JOHN PAUL JONES. 



"The Ranger." The French fitted up and armed a 
siout merchant vessel which they named ''The Bon 
Homme Richard." They thus named the ship in 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 85 

compliment to Franklin, for the name is French for 
''Good Man Richard/' a character in Franklin's writ- 
ings. Jones was made captain of this war- vessel. 

"The Bon Homme Richard" was not a strong 
fighting craft, but what she lacked in strength, was 
more than made up by the stout-heartedness of her 
commander. Cruising off the coast east of England, 
"The Bon Homme Richard" fell in with a British 
war-ship, the "Scrap is," and Jones put his ship into 
the fight with a will. "The Richard" was over- 
matched by the stronger "Serapis," but that made 
no difference to Jones. To make the fight more 
equal he ran his ship alongside the "Serapis" and 
lashed the two together. Thus the battle became a 
hand-to-hand fight. 

"Do you surrender?" shouted the English captain. 
"I have not yet begun to fight," answered Jones, 
though his rigging was in tatters, his timbers shat- 
tered, and his decks covered with the dead. The 
"Serapis" had the better of the fight, and would have 
won, had not a sailor of "The Richard" happened to 
throw a hand-grenade down a hatchway of the 
"Serapis," where, in exploding, it fired a large lot of 
powder, which blew up the ship and killed many of 
her men. 

So badly was "The Richard" damaged, that next 
day Jones abandoned her, and went aboard the 
"Serapis" and "The Richard" sank to the bottom 
of the sea. 



86 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

57. The War in the South. 

Baffled in the North, the British sought to tr}' the 
fortunes of war in the Soutli. The Tories were 
stronger there than in the North, and the king 
counted on great help from those who were, as 
he called it, loyal. "Establish my authority in 
Georgia" he said, "and the mass of the people will 
rally to the support of the British flag." So, in the 
fall of 1778, the British landed in Georgia, and soon 
they held Savannah and some smaller towns. There 
were not many people in Georgia, and in a short time 
the whole of it was under the king's control. Then 
the British set out to gain South Carolina. In 1780, 
a large part of the British army of the North, was 
sent south, by sea, under Clinton and Cornwallis, 
and landed at Savannah. Thence the army moved 
to Charleston and laid siege to it on the land side. 
The city was soon taken with three thousand prison- 
ers. This was the first important success, that had 
come to the British for a long time. It seemed thai 
the king had indeed won back Georgia and South 
Carolina. Feeling secure in holding the ground, 
Clinton now went back to New York, leaving Corn- 
wallis in command. 

But the Americans did not give up those States. 
They began a new style of fighting which puzzled 
and plagued the British. Small bands of native 
patriots under native officers were formed. The men 
knew every inch of the forest, field and swamp of 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 87 

that wild country, and, supplied with good horses, 
as they were, they moved from point to point very 
rapidly. Commanded by Marion, Sumter, Pickens and 
other leaders equally daring and skillful, these bands 
constantly annoyed the British. They fought no 
battle; they simply skirmished, way-laying wagon 
trains, cutting off small parties, breaking up camps 
at night, and otherwise harassing their foe. Unable 
at first to get weapons, many of them made swords 
from the steel saws that they found in saw-mills, 
and these had to serve, until better ones were taken 
from the enemy. 

The work of these roving bands was important, 
not only because of the trouble they made for the 
enemy, but also on account of the spirit which 
they stirred up in the people. This prevented them 
from giving up and swearing allegiance to the king. 
They kept these states from becoming loyal to the 
king until help came from General Washington. 

Washington knew how needful it was that some- 
thing should be done to help the patriots in South 
Carolina and Georgia. And he wished to send one of 
his best generals there with troops from the North. 
He chose General Greene for this purpose, but Gen- 
eral Gates wanted the honor. As Gates had done 
before, when he wanted to crowd out Schuyler from 
the command of the patriot soldiers at Saratoga, he 
went to Congress, and schemed to get himself ap- 
pointed in place of Greene. 



88 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

The Congress was weak, made up largely at this 
time of men of little ability, who were much more 
given to petty pohtics than to true statesmanship. 
"Did I not capture Burgoyne's army?" said Gates. 
" Did I not win a great victory? Send me south, and 
see what^ will do to CornwalUs and his forces." As 
it had done before, in a way to bring disaster more 
than once, Congress overi-uled Washington. It made 
him send the braggart Gates to the South, instead 
of Greene. 

58. Battle of Camden. 

Gates went south with an army, and, as soon as he 
got there, he began a coiu-se of ])lunders that brought 
sorrow to the Americans. CornwalHs ])rought him 
to battle at Camden, South Carolinii, in August, 1780, 
and defeated his army. He and a part of his troops 
ran away clear across the State of North Carolina, 
himself far ahead of his men. Baron De Kalb witli 
his troops stayed and fought gallantly, while Gates 
was running, but they were at length forced from the 
field. De Kalb received eleven wounds and died 
three daj^s later. The boastful, tricky, unskillful 
Gates had brought upon the Americans one of the 
worst defeats that they ever suffered. 

Encouraged ])y this victory, the British forced the 
fighting in this State, and by early fall had subdued 
South Carolina more fully than ever. The Tories 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 89 

had indeed rallied for the king and there was bitter 
strife between them and the patriots of the State. 

59. Battle of King's Mountain. 

''Now/' said Cornwallis, "we hold the whip over 
Georgia and South Carolina, and we will capture 
North Carolina." Moving to North Carolina, he 
raised a force of about twelve hundred men, mostly 
Tories. Arming them well, he sent them up into 
the mountainous parts of South Carolina and North 
Carolina to rally the Tories there. 

It is a remarkable thing, well shown in history, 
that dwellers in the mountains, are lovers of lil)erty. 
There were more patriots than Tories among the 
mountains that cross the Carolinas. The backwoods 
hunters and the farmers, entirely without military 
skill or form, rallied, even from as far south as 
Georgia. On October 7, the}^ attacked the British 
force at King's Mountain, in South Carolina, near the 
boundary line of North Carolina. The patriots killed 
or captured the whole force, losing very lightly them- 
selves. On hearing of this defeat, Cornwallis moved 
back into South Carolina. 

Taught a lesson by the defeat of Gates, Congress 
now allowed Washington to have his way, and he 
sent General Nathanael Greene to the South. At 
last Cornwallis had his match. With (General 
Morgan of Virginia for his right hand man, and with 
Light Horse Harry Lee for his next best helper, 



90 



SHOHT A.MKRICAN HISTORY 



and with A\'illiam Washington, cousin of the great 
Washington, for another, Greene did not lack officers; 
hut where were the men? There were only aljout 



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NATHANAEL GHKKNK. 



two thousand, and those half clad, and with but few 
weapons. Congress had failed in its duty, and these 
men had not been paid for many months. 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 91 

Thus, at the beginning of 17S1, Washington, wait- 
ing for a chance to strike, was watching CHnton in the 
North, and Greene, his best general, with an almost 
hopeless task before him, was in the South. 

Knowing that Cornwallis proposed moving into 
North Carolina, Greene tried to break his plan. 
Dividing his small force, which had been joined by a 
few patriots, he sent Morgan in one direction while he 
took the other, and moved toward Cornwallis. Tarle- 
ton, the ablest officer that Cornwallis had, was sent 
to look for Morgan. He found him, and was soundly 
whipped at the battle of the Cowpens. 

Cornwallis, with his strong force, now began a chase 
of Greene's weak force, which was joined by Morgan's 
band. It was like the chase of a fox by a bulldog. 
He could kill his prey if he could catch it, l^iit he 
could not catch it. Greene fell l^ack, clear across 
North Carolina into Virginia, and Cornwallis could 
not bring him to battle. Now Greene was joined 
by more soldiers from the North. 

"I have driven Greene out of North Carolina," 
said Cornwallis; "I have subdued that colon}^ for 
the king." He should have waited l)efore l)oasting. 
Greene was not done with him. He came back to 
North Carolina and fought Cornwallis at Guilford 
Court House. It was a terrible battle. Though the 
British were not driven from the field the}^ suffered 
a severe loss. They very soon fell back to the coast 
at Wilmington, whence they moved to Virginia, to 



92 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

join a British force that had been sent there to pre- 
vent Virginians from going to help General Greene. 

Greene kept up the war, and in a few months had 
regained all of the South except Wilmington, Charles- 
ton and Savannah. 

There had been no fighting of late in the North, 
though two armies were facing each other at New 
York, where a battle might take place at any time. 
With such a general as Washington so near him, 
Chnton was uneasy, for he had seen what the great 
American could do. He knew that as soon as a French 
army that was coming should arrive, Washington 
would force a fight. 

60. Yorktown. 

When C'ornwalUs ran away from Greene into 
Virginia, it was his purpose to join Arnold, the 
traitor, who, now in the British army, was in com- 
mand of a force there. Opposed to Arnold, was a 
force of patriots under Lafayette. After Cornwallis 
came, he took command of the British troops and 
Arnold was sent back to New York. Cornwallis 
did much plundering and ravaging in Virginia, until 
Lafayette received more troops. Then he thought 
it prudent to fall back to the coast, so that in case of 
need, the British fleet could help him. Another 
reason for seeking the coast was, that Clinton at New 
York wanted Cornwallis to be where he could quickly 
embark, and come to his help if he should be needed. 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 93 

So, Cornwallis went to Yorktown on Chesapeake Bay, 
where he fortified and waited. 

It was now October, 1781, and this was the situa- 
tion. There was a British force at Savannah, 
another at Charleston, another at Yorktown, and 
another at New York. Greene was looking after the 
forces in the South, Washington was attending to 
those at New York, Lafayette was closing in on the 
force at Yorktown. A French fleet bearing an army 
was on the way from France, and was about to 
arrive. 

6i. The Surrender of Cornwallis. 

All at once, Washington seemed to give up his 
purpose of attacking Clinton at New York and 
appeared to plan a movement south. He started, 
but even then his own men did not know where he 
meant to go. It was one of his swift and sudden 
moves, such as he had made for Trenton and Prince- 
ton. But his men knew that, whatever the move- 
ment meant, it was all right. They knew that he 
never made a mistake. 

The great general knew that Lafayette had penned 
Cornwallis in at Yorktown. He also knew that a 
French fleet, that would keep the British fleet from 
helping Cornwallis, would soon be in the bay. If he 
hurried his men there to help Lafayette, Cornwallis 
must lose his army, even as Burgoyne had lost his. 

CHnton was bewildered by Washington's move- 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 95 

ment, and at first took it to be a skillful plan to 
attack him. By the time he came to really under- 
stand it, Washington was far away, on his march 
to Yorktown, too far to be annoyed by pursuit. 
Even though Clinton had followed, he would have 
l^een beaten, and after that Washington would have 
gone on. 

The French ships, having driven off a British fleet 
sent from New York, met Washington at the head of 
Chesapeake Bay and carried his men to Yorktown. 
The arm}^ of Cornwallis was doomed. The force in 
front of it was too strong to be broken through ; the 
French fleet kept it from receiving supplies by sea; 
and it must either fight a hopeless battle, or stay in 
its works and starve. 

For a month, Cornwallis held out under a rain of 
cannon balls, from the troops on the land and the 
ships on the water. On October 19, 1781, he sur- 
rendered his army of about seven thousand men. 

62. Peace. 

There was but little, now, that the British could 
do. With the American and the French soldiers, 
Washington could now easily take New York. The 
armies of thQ king might now be hunted down one by 
one, and destroyed, and the king and his advisers 
knew it. England could send no more soldiers to 
America; she had troubles elsewhere. She was at 
war with three nations of Europe, France, Spain and 



96 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Holland, and other nations were unfriendly to her. 
There was no fighting of any account in America 
during this war after Cornwallis surrendered. 

Washington had not only set free the Americans; 
he had conquered the king in England ; for this last 
defeat l)roke his power over his home subjects, so 
that he had to jield to their demands for l^etter 
treatment. 

The British troops remained in Charleston, Savan- 
nah, and New York for many months; but the fight- 
ing was over and arrangements for a settlement, were 
l)eing made. On the 19th of April, 1783, exactly 
eight years from the day when the British fired on 
the Minute-men at Lexington, the Continental army 
was disbanded by order of Congress. 

63. The Treaty. 

In the peace settlement, there were many things 
to consider. France was a party to the war, and so 
was Spain. Both had much to say as to the terms 
of peace. France had fought England, not so much 
from a generous wisli to help the colonies, as from 
hatred of England, and at the end, France wanted 
her share of the spoils. She wanted land in America; 
she wanted to regain some at least of what she had 
lost to England in the French and Indian War, twenty 
years before. France had hopes that some of the 
land west of the mountains might come to her, and 
she did not favor the giving it all to the United States. 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 97 

But the American statesmen, Franklin, Adams and 
Jay, gained what they demanded, as follows: 




JOHN JAY. 



1st. The new nation was to be absolutely inde- 
pendent of England. 



98 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

2d. The Mississippi River was to be the western 
boundary. 

3d. The fishermen of New England and all the 
rest of the country were to l^e free to fish, as much 
as they might choose, on the Banks of Newfoundland. 

Florida was given to Spain. What was then known 
as Florida took in the whole of the peninsula, and the 
land for many miles back from the coast, along the 
Gulf of Mexico, quite to the Mississippi River. As 
Spain already held the land west of the great river, 
she now was the neighbor of the United States on the 
south and west. England, holding Canada, was 
neighbor on the north, the eastern front of the United 
States being the coast line of the Atlantic Ocean. 
This treaty was signed, at Paris, France, September 3, 
1783. 

Washington went to his home in Virginia to live 
the life of a quiet country gentleman. His generals 
followed his example, forgetting their niilitary life 
and becoming common, every-day citizens. 

The fighting was over; now a nation was to be 
I )uilt up. That was a woi'k of peace, a task for states- 
men rather than for soldiers. 

64. The Greatness of Washington. 

As the ages pass, men become more and more 
able to measure the greatness of Washington. His 
genius as a soldier won him success, against the skill 
of England's best generals, commanding her best 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 99 

troops, and armed with the best weapons then known. 
His greatness as a man, enabled him to overcome 
treachery, slander and lack of support. His second in 
command, forced on him by a weak Congress, was a 
traitor; his unpaid and starving troops were often 
inclined to leave him. There were jealousies in his 
army between troops from different colonies; and 
quarrels among his officers, many of whom, unfit 
for their positions, had been appointed by Congress 
against his wishes. Never before, in the history of 
war, did the great qualities of any one man show 
forth more grandly than did those of Washington, in 
the great rebellion which his genius and devotion 
turned into a great Revolution. 

SUMMARY. 

1. The British troops at Boston. 

2. Gage sends a force to Lexington and Concord, to destroy 

supphes stored there and to capture Adams and Hancock. 

3. Skirmish with the Minute-men at Lexington, 

4. The British regulars are fiercely attacked by the Minute- 

men at Concord Bridge and flee towards Boston. 

5. Gage is besieged in Boston. 

6. Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point with great stores of 

supplies are taken. 

7. The second Continental Congress meets at Philadelphia. 

8. The Battle of Bunker Hill, a dearly bought British victory. 

9. Washington is made Commander-in-Chief of the Conti- 

nental Army. 
10. Attempt to take Quebec and Montreal. The attack on 
Quebec fails. 



100 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

11. The Jiritish (Iriveu from l^o.stoii. 

I L*. I^ritish attempt to take the CaroUnas ends in failure. 

l.'i. Wa.shiuiiton moves his troops to Brooklyn. 

14. The king hires Hessian soldiers. 

15. Congress adopts "The Declaration of Independence." 

Fourth of July. 

Ki. Rattle of Long Island; Washington defeated. 

17. Washington retreats to tlie Harlem River. 

IS. Battle of Trenton. 

1!». Ivscape of Washington's army. I battle of Princeton. 

20. I'romise of aid from France, 

'21. liritish campaign. Surrender of Burgoyne. 

22. I'hc British take Philadelphia. 

2.'>. Valley Forge. 

24. France aids the colonies. 

25. The British give up Bhiladelphin. 

2(i. (leorge Rogers Clarke occupies the Noi-thwest Territory. 

27. John Paul Jones defeats the British on the sea. 

2S. ( Jeneral Arnold turns traitor and tries to deliver West Point 

to the liritish. 
2!l. The P>i'itish victory over General dates at ('amden. 
,■)(). British defeats in South Carolina. 
:U. Greene and Cornwallis battle at (iuilfoid Coui't Hou.se. 

('Ornwallis retreats. 
'.V2. Greene drives the British out of tiie Cnrolinas. 
83. Cornwallis i-etires to Yorktowu. 

34. Surrender of Cornwallis. 

35. Treaty of Peace. End of the War. A new Nation. 

(QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 

1. Why was General Gage sent to occupy Boston with Biitish 
troops? WJiy did he send some of his force to Lexington 
and Concord? 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR 101 

2. How did the Minute-men fight the British reguhirs in their 

retreat to Boston? 

3. Where, during this retreat, did the severest fighting take 

place? 

4. What two forts were taken by the patriot soldiers in the 

northern part of New York State, shortly after the fight 
at Concord and Lexington? In what war had those forts 
l)een taken before? 

5. Why was the capture of these forts important to the 

patriots? 

6. When did the second Continental ('ongress meet? Where? 

What was done by this congress? 

7. Give an account of the first great battle of the war. 

8. Give an account of the movement against Quebec and 

^Montreal. 

9. When were the British driven out of Boston? How did 

they go and to what place? 

10. Who were the Hessians? 

11. What two battles were won in the winter of 177(5-1777 by 

the Americans? Why were these victories important? 

12. What leading American citizen was in France, trying to 

get aid for his country? 

13. What was the British plan of campaign for 1777? Name 

three British generals who were to take part in the cam- 
paign? What was each to do? What was the result 
of this British campaign ? What American generals were 
opposed to the British during this campaign? Where 
did the principal fighting occur? 

14. Why did Howe fail to do his part in the campaign? Where 

did he go? Who opposed him? What battle was fought? 

15. Where was Washington's army encamped during the win- 

ter of 1777-1778? Who did valuable work in drilling 
Washington's soldiers during that winter? 



102 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

16. What was the Northwest Territory? Why did George 

Rogers Clarke go there with troops? Did he succeed? 

17. What prominent American general became a traitor to 

his country? When? What fort did he try tosurrender 
to the Britisii? Wliy was the position of that fort im- 
portant? 

18. Give an account of John Paul Jones's greatest sea fight. 

19. What American general was first sent to the CaroUnas to 

drive out the British? Was he successful? Who was 
put in his phu-e? 

20. Name two important Wattles occurring in South Cai-olina. 

One in North Carolina. 

21. When did Cornwallis surrender? Where? To whom? 

Whattreaty was signed ending the war? When? Where? 
What was settled by this treaty? What territory went 
to Spain by this treaty? What nation held the land 
west of the Mississippi River at the close of the war? 



Chapter III. 
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION — THE CONSTITUTION. 

65. The States, after the War for Independence to the 

War of i8i2. 

Where there had been thirteen colonies, each one 
independent of the others, there were now now thir- 
teen States, almost as independent of each other as 
they had been before. From the time of the Dec- 
laration of Independence to about the close of the 
war the States, in so far as they formed a nation, 
were goverened by the Continental Congress. The 
Congress had been simply meetings of men, sent by 
the several States to speak for them. There were no 
strong laws by which it could control. No State 
could be made to obey Congress against its will. 

As the war went on, it began to appear that there 
was need of a stronger union, to prevent the States 
from drifting apart. Without stronger bonds, there 
could be no such United States as the Declaration of 
Independence named. 

66. Articles of Confederation. 

As early as 1776, a committee of Congress drew up 
a plan of a Union of the States which should last for- 
ever. From this action came The Articles of Con- 
jederation. But they lacked strength. Under them 

103 



104 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Congress had not much more power over llie States 
than it had before. It could declare war, but it 
could not raise troops. It could declare a tax, but 
could not collect it. As one great statesman said, 
"Congress could declare everything, but could do 
nothing." During the war, the States had held 
together. After the war, when Congress wanted 
money with which to pay the troops, it had no power 
to compel the States to furnish it. Neither before nor 
after the adoption of the Articles of Confederation 
did Congress have more than a very slight command 
over the States. And yet the Articles liad l)een 
framed to make a "perpetual union" of the States. 
Most of the suffering of the troops during the war 
was due to the refusal of the States to supply money, 
when it was called for by Congress. The United 
States, as far as they were united, had no President 
nor any officer to serve as a general governor of the 
nation. 

67. Hard Times. 

Money w^as scarce; hard times came. State after 
State went into the lousiness of printing and paying 
out paper money, as they had done during the war. 
The national money had become worthless, and the 
money of the States was not much better. Eng- 
land placed heav>^ taxes on all goods from the United 
States, thus injuring American commerce, while, 
under the Ai'ticles of Confederation, the United States 



FORMlXd A GOVERNMENT 105 

Congress luul no powx^' unless l)y consent of all the 
States, to tax English goods coming to this countiy . 

The Nation was deeply in debt, and so was each 
State. So also were nearly all the business men. 
Worthless money made things worse. There were 
law-suits without end. The taxes laid by the States 
were heavy, and people were too poor to pay them. 
Hundreds of houses and farms were seized by the 
sheriffs and sold for taxes or for debts, and so worthy 
people, for no fault of their own, lost their property. 

There was such a strong feeling against high taxes 
and worthless money that riots occurred in some 
}).'irts of the coimtry. 

68. Shays's Rebellion. 

Daniel Shays of Massachusetts, who had been a 
captain in the Continentat Army, went so far as to 
raise a force of about a thousand men to fight the 
government. He went with his little army to Spring- 
field, Mass., and tried to seize the arms and ammu- 
nition at the national armory. This showed that 
the people were ready to fight the new government, 
against distressful taxes, even as they had fought 
the old one. 

Those who had been Tories during the war now 
began to taunt the patriots. '^See what you have 
brought yourselves to, by fighting against 3'our king! 
The worst he ever did, or could do, would not have 
put you in so l)ad a plight as you are now in." It 



106 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

seemed to many that the people, no longer governed 
by the king, could not govern themselves. 

Washington was as free with his advice, as a citizen, 
as he had been with his services as a soldier. People 
began to see that he was as great, as a statesman, as 
he had been as a general. As he had been first in 
war, he was now first in peace, and more than ever 
he had come to stand first in the hearts of his country- 
men. He declared at all times, and with all his 
might, that only a strong central, or national govern- 
ment could save the country. 

For three or four years after the war, things in the 
new, half-formed nation went on from bad to worse. 
People began to sa}^, "We need a king over us to 
govern and control all the States." They asked 
Washington to become king. He had fought for a 
united country, free from {he rule of kings, and, great 
man that he was, he refused. 

There were others than Washington, who were 
great men. Alexander Hamilton, of New York was 
one; James Madison, of Virginia and Benjamin 
Franklin of Pennsylvania were others. John Jay 
was another; Thomas Jefferson, he who wrote the 
Declaration of Independence, was yet another. 

69. The Ordinance of 1787. 

One great question before Congress was: What 
shall be done with the great country west of the 
mountains, stretching away to the Mississippi? By 



FORMING A GOVERNMENT 107 

the treaty of peace, England had given up her claim 
to this vast reach of land. It had not been given 
to any particular State, nor to the Nation as a whole. 
Some of the States now remembered that, as colonies, 
they had owned lands beyond the mountains. The 
people of Virginia said that their State reached to the 
Mississippi River, and a like claim was made by the 
people of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. 
Connecticut claimed a wide strip west of Pennsyl- 
vania, reaching to the great river, and Massachusetts 
claimed another lying north of that of Connecticut. 
New York also had claims to western lands. 

The States with no claims said to the others, " We 
helped to win that land from England; we have an 
interest in it. It is not fair that you should have it 
all." Maryland, that would not sign the Articles 
of Confederation until the land question had been 
settled, said, " If we are all to Hve as a Union of 
States, let those States that own this land give it up 
to the Nation. Let this land be owned by the United 
States." 

One by one, the States gave up their land to the 
Nation, until nearly all the country west of the 
Alleghanies, east of the Mississippi, and north of 
the Ohio, belonged to the United States as a nation. 

The next question before Congress was, "What 
shall we do with all this land?" Some said, "Divide 
it up, giving each State a share." Others said, "Let 
it be used to pay the war debt. Sell the land from 



108 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

time to time, and usv the money to pay to France 
and Holland and other creditors, the amounts loaned 
us during the war when we needed it." 

There were people who wanted to go out into that 
good country, and make homes. They wanted to 
know how they would be treated. Congress decided 
that if any of the land were sold, it should be sold 
for the good of the United States. It also decided 
that the territory, as it filled with people, should be cut 
up and ])e made into new States from time to time. 
Much of this great extent of land was the richest and 
most fertile soil in the world. Many people, espe- 
cially old Revolutionary soldiers, decided to go and 
settle there with their families. They urged Con.- 
gress to make laws for that country, antl in 1787, 
Congress passed the set of laws known in history, as 
the Ordinance of 1 787 for the Government of the North- 
west Territory. What was then the Northwest Terri- 
tory is now the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan, and Wisconsin. It was settled among 
other things : That there should be no slavery in that 
territory; that all living there should enjoy absolute 
freedom of religion; that pu])lic schools should l)e 
built and means found for keeping tnem up; that 
when there were people enough there, the territory 
should be divided into States, which should be 
admitted into the Union of the United States. 

This was the wisest and the greatest law that the 
old Confederation ('ongress, 1781 to 1789, passed. 



FORMING A GOVERNMENT 109 

The Congress was not to last much longer. Arrange- 
ments were being made for a better form of govern- 
ment. 

70. Constitution of the United States. 

In the latter part of May, 1787, men sent by their 
States, came together at Philadelphia to plan for 
improvements to the Articles of Confederation, and 
Washington was chosen president of the meeting. 
Instead of changing the Articles, the convention 
framed a body of laws which was to take the place 
of them. This new l)ody of laws was called The 
Constitution of the United States. Congress declared 
on September 13, 1788, that the Constitution was in 
force. Later all the States agreed to it, Rhode Island 
and North Carolina ]:)eing the last. 

71. Slavery. 

There were many in the United States who had 
long ])elieved that slavery was an evil, and in some 
States it had been declared unlawful. In 1780, 
Massachusetts took such action, and the freeing of 
the slaves was begun in Pennsylvania. Soon after, 
New Hampshire forbade slavery, and so did Rhode 
Island and Connecticut. The feeling against slavery 
was strong in all the States. The law that forbade 
slavery in the Northwest Territory was voted for by 
members of Congress from the Southern States, as 



no SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

well as by those from the States that had taken 
action against slavery. 

Some of the makers of the Constitution wanted the 
bringing of slaves to this country forbidden, but 
others objected to this. So it was agreed that the 
Constitution should not prohibit the slave trade until 
1808. But it was not stated that even then it should 
be forbidden. 

72. Industry. 

Blessed l)y liberty and peace, the people of the 
United States began to prosper. Farming w(Mit on 
in all the States, and since the war, manufacturing, 
no longer kept down by Iilngland, had begun to grow. 
In 1783, clock-making began in Connecticut where it 
is still an important industry. In that year, the 
first woolen-goods factory was built, at Xewl)iiryport, 
Mass. At the same time the making of cotton sew- 
ing thread began at Pawtucket, R. I., where it is still 
carried on. 

In 1784, an American ship made a voyage to China, 
which was the beginning of a great American ocean 
trade. Nothing was known of electricity then, 
except that it was the cause of lightning, as Franklin, 
first of all, had shown. Steam for moving machinery 
had not been used in America, though some trials 
of it had been made in England. Not much use was 
made of coal from mines. 



FORMING A GOVERNMENT 111 

73. The First President. 

Under the Constitution, the Nation must have a 
President; and who was so good a man to bear the 
honor and to serve the country, as George Washing- 
ton? He was elected as President, with John Adams 
as Vice-President, in February, 1789. New York 
City was then the capital of the United States, and 
to New York came Washington to take the office. 
There were no railroads then; there were very few 
coach routes. Journeying was slow and toilsome. 
Washington came in his private coach from his 
Virginia home. On April 30, 1789, he stood in 
Federal Hall where now stands the Sub-Treasury 
building in Wall Street, New York City, and took his 
oath of office. He solemnly swore that he would 
"faithfully execute the office of President of the 
United States, and to the best of his ability he would 
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 
United States." An oath of that kind has been 
taken by every man, who has ever filled a public 
office, however small, in our country from that day 
to this. 

Those were days of public ceremony. The com- 
mon people looked upon Washington somewhat as 
they would look upon a king, for not only was he a 
great man but he had a noble bearing, and was a man 
of grave dignity. 

There was nothing in the Constitution that gave 
Washington kingly power. He was simply the man 



112 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 




WASITINCTON TAKES THE OATH AS PliKSlDKNT. 



FORMING A (lOM^.RNMENT 11)^ 

chosen b}' his fellow eitizeiis to earn' out llieir trill 
during a short term, at the end of which they were 
to select another. The power of the Nation was in 
the men of the Nation. 

Population — Character of the Country. 

When Washington became President there were 
less than four milhon people living in our country, 
and of these about one in seven w^ere slaves. All of 
them, except perhaps a hundred thousand, dwelled 
east of the Alleghany Mountains. Indians lived in 
the western region. In all the States, nearly all 
the land was covered with forests, the home of ])ears, 
wolves, panthers and other wild animals. Deer, 
turkeys, geese, ducks and other game were plentiful, 
also many fur-bearing animals, such as the beaver, tho 
otter, and the fox. Wild animals were found within 
what is now the city of New York. 

The cities were small, Philadelphia being the 
largest, with forty-five thousand people. The United 
States started as a new nation in a new country, and 
wo nation ever had such promise of wealth and great- 
ness. Here was endless land, never touched by the 
plow, so rich that it would yield ample harvests for 
centuries. Here was a coast, hundreds of miles long; 
with the best harbors in the world. Here were great 
rivers, on which the riches of the land might be 
floated to the sea. Here was water power for 
machinery, that could be made to do as much work 



114 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

as could be done by millions of horses. The forests 
would yield lumber to supply the world, and the 
hills were filled with the ores of iron, copper, lead, 
and the precious metals. 

As the country gave promise of great things, so 
did the people. They were bred from the best stock 
of the human race. They were gifted with good 
(qualities. They were inventive, (luick to see the 
bounties of nature and skillful in making use of them. 

74. Amendments to the Constitution. 

It could not be expected that the Constitution was 
to prove perfect and complete, as it was at first 
drawn. When the people began to try it, and to live 
under it, they found that there were ways in which 
it could be made better. During Washington's 
presidency, ten amendments or additions were made 
to the Constitution as others have been since. The 
reasons for this are plain. 

Some of the States were a great distance from some 
of the others. There were differences of climate, 
of living, and of thinking in the different States.. 
Thus the people could not agree as well about the 
Constitution as they would have done, had all lived 
in one State. 

There were few roads, and travel was mainly l)y 
water. People who lived far apart, since they saw 
and knew so little of each other, were more inter- 
ested, each in his own State and its affairs, than 



THE YOUNG NATION IW 

in a plan for the government of all the States. 
To most dwellers in the United States at that time 
a man's State was his country. He loved Virginia, 
or he loved Massachusetts, as the case might be, 
because the State was his country. Thus, to meet the 
wants of the different States, five more amendments 
to the Constitution have been made at later times. 

75. Tariff. 

England meant to prevent the new Nation from 
succeeding in its manufactures and commerce, be- 
cause such prosperity would be bad for the English 
people. The English meant to sell all they could in 
America, and at the same time keep Americans from 
selling in England. Wise , far-seeing American states- 
men declared that the young industries of their coun- 
try should be helped. They said that taxes should 
be laid on goods brought from Europe for sale in 
America, to make those goods more costly. This, they 
said, would cause buyers in this country to choose 
American-made goods, as being the cheaper. They said 
that such a tax, in so far as it kept foreign goods out, 
would give American manufacturers a better chance 
to sell their goods. The taxes collected on such 
goods as came into our country would be useful in 
pajdng the expenses of the government and in lessen- 
ing the national debt. At the same time, our manu- 
facturers would be "protected." It was the purpose 
to employ the same meins against England, to help 



110 SHOUT AMl«:iUCA\ IllsroKY 

our manufactures and our connnerce, that England 
liad used against the colonies, to help hers. Such 
laws were passed in 1789, and thus began the "Pro- 
tective Tariff" that has been such a matter of dispute 
in the politics of our country ever since. 

76. The Capital. 

It was thought best that the capital of the Nation 
should be near the center of the country. The first 
Congress took up the matter of choosing a place for 
it. It was decided, after much thought, that Wash- 
ington should be the capital city, because it was near 
the middle of the coimtry, and it was thought, 
always would be. Philadelphia was to be the capi- 
tal imtil 1800, and after that, Washington. It was 
not believed that the population would ever extend 
so far westwardly as it has. No one thought that 
the United States would ever be more than an 
Atlantic-slope country, and surely, Washington lay 
midway between Maine and Georgia, the two ends 
of it. In our day the center of our coimtry is far out 
west, in the Mississippi Valley. 

77. The Census. 

According to the Constitution, the number of 
Representatives in Congress from a State is fixed 
according to the population of that State. In order 
to carry out this law, when congressmen are to be 
elected and sent to Washington, it must be known 



THE YOUNG NATION 117 

what the popuhitioii of each State is. So, what is 
known as the Census was established. This calls for a 
counting, once in every ten years, of the people of the 
entire country. The first census was taken in 1790, 
and a census has been taken every ten years since. 

78. Debts, Coinage, Banking. 

A war always leaves a nation in debt. The United 
States was heavily in debt. During the war. Con- 
gress had borrowed great sums of money in our own 
country, and had also borrowed heavil}^ in France 
and Holland. The notes given by the Nation had 
fallen in value, because there were doubts whether 
they would ever be paid. But they were the Na- 
tion's notes, and honor demanded that they should 
be met to the last penny. 

The payment of the debt was a great political 
question. Many said, ''The notes of the govern- 
ment are now mainly held by speculators, who have 
bought them for a small part of their face value. In 
many cases they got them for fifteen per cent of 
what they call for, and this is all they should receive 
for them." Others said, "It makes no difference 
who has them or what they gave for them, those 
notes are promises to pay. If the Nation is honest 
it will pay them. Honesty is the best policy. A 
man who can pay his debts, and will not, is a rogue. 
A nation that will not pay its debts, is no better." 
It was finally decided that all the country's debts 



118 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

should be paid in full, dollar for dollar, and they 
were so paid, fully and honestly, as all the debts of 
the Nation have been ever since 

The Nation needed a system of coins, and, abandon- 
ing the English system of pounds, shillings and pence, 
it established a decimal system, using for its money 
cents, dimes, dollars and eagles, as we do to-day. In 
1792, a inint for the making of coins, was established 
at Philadelphia. Up to the time of the issue of 
American coins, the Spanish silver dollar had been 
in common use as a trading coin. 

A great national bank was established in 1791, at 
Philadelphia, with branches in the leading cities of 
the country. It was called the Bank of the United 
States. The charter of the bank was to expire in 
1811. The question of having a national bank was 
made a matter of politics, many people believing that 
the Government ought to have nothing to do with 
the banking business, and that the Constitution gave 
the Government no power to found one. 

79. New States. 

During Washington's first term of office, Vermont, 
which had always been claimed by both New York 
and New Hampshire, came into the Union as a State. 
The western part of North Carolina, known as Ten- 
nessee, and the western part of Virginia, called Ken- 
tucky, were also joined to the Union. The peopling 
of the West thus began. 



THE YOUNG NATION 119 



80. Parties. 



As the people became used to governing themselves 
differences of opinion formed, and the result was, 
that those thinking one way, formed one party, and 
those thinking another way, formed another. So the 
people were divided into two great parties. One of 
these, the Federal party, was a national party. It 
believed that the Nation instead of the States, had 
great power. From it has come the Republican 
party of our day. The other was the States Rights, 
or, as it was then called, the Republican party, believ- 
ing that the general government, the Nation, had but 
little authority over State affairs. This party was 
later called the Democratic-Republican party. From 
it has come the Democratic party of our day. The 
first party held that the Nation was an unbreakable 
union of all the States in one solid Nation. The 
other party claimed that our Nation was a number 
of republics bound by an agreement, and that they 
might fall apart at any time, if one or more of these 
should decide to break it. This difference of opinion 
between the two parties never ceased, until, after 
many years, it was decided by a terrible war that 
this is a Nation and not a mere partnership of States. 

81. The French Republic. 

In 1789, there was a revolution in France. The 
people overthrew the kingly government and set 
up a republic, somewhat like ours. Naturally the 



120 SHORT AMI'JMCAX IITSTORV 

crowned rulers of the countries in Europe opposed 
the rise of ii kingless nation among them, and the}^ 
made war on France the Repul)Hc. 

The States Rights party, then called the Democratic- 
Republican party, the party of the common people, 
led by Jefferson, the man who wrote the Declaration 
of Independence, was in full sympathy with the 
rebels in France, who had overthrown the king. The 
Jefferson party said that, since the French had helped 
us in our Revolution, we ought to help them in theirs. 
"Look!" they said. "See how American ideas of 
lil^erty have sprung up in Europe! France is a 
republic! Hurrah for France and liberty!" 

France was indeed a repubHc. But the common 
people of France were not always a cool-headed, well- 
poised people. They ran to excesses. They often 
mistook lawlessness for liberty. The}^ became wild 
and did some wicked and disgraceful things. It was 
not wise for the United States to go very far in sup- 
port of the French, in all that that people were doing. 
So thought Washington and Hamilton and their 
followers, the party in power; for by this time, 
Washington had been re-elected and was now serving 
his second term as President. 

France, the republic, declared war against England 
and Spain, ancl demanded that the United States 
should join with her, in fighting those nations. "We 
helped you," said the French. " It is your turn now; 
help us." 



THE YOUNG NATION 121 

The Democratic party, led ]:)y Jefferson, favored 
granting the demands of the French, l)ut the Feder- 
alists opposed it. "We agreed to help France," said 
the Democrats, "when France helped us. Now 
we must keep our word." "JN'o," rephed the Federal- 
ists, "We made a treaty with the King of France 
to help him. Now the enemies of the king having 
overthrown him, ask us to help them. We are not 
l)ound to do it, and, if we were, we could not, because 
we are not able." 

It was a critical time. Our Nation was weak. It 
was heavily in debt. A war would bring ruin. In 
1793, President Washington issued a Proclamation 
of Neutrality which, in effect, said that the United 
States as a nation would mind its own business, and 
would not meddle with the affairs of nations in 
Europe. This was one of the wisest things ever 
done by a President of the United States. England 
at this time would have been glad of a reason for 
fighting us. 

82. The Cotton Gin. 

There was not much profit in growing cotton in 
those days. The raising of a crop was easy, but after 
the cotton bolls were gathered they were worth I nit 
little, because of the slow and tedious labor of separ- 
ating the fi]:»re from the seeds. It was a good dav's 
work for a slave to pick one pound of cotton from the 
seeds, and make it fit to be carded and spun. It 



122 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

did not pay well to own slaves then, for they could 
hardly earn enough for their masters in raising corn, 
tobacco, rice, and other crops to pay for their keep. 
Slavery had ceased in the Northern States, largely 
because it did not pa}^, and it was likely to be given 
up in the South for the same reason. 

In 1793, an ingenious New Englander, named 
Whitney, was in the South where he saw slaves 
picking cotton from the seed b}^ hand. He made a 
machine which he called a cotton-gin, by means of 
which hundreds of pounds of fibre could be separated 
from the seeds, each day. This invention made 
cotton-growing very profitable and thus fixed slav- 
ery firmly in the South, because larger cotton crops 
could be profitably raised, and thus more slaves were 
needed for this work. 

83. The National Government uses its Power. 

The Government needed money, and taxes were 
laid to get it. Among other taxes, was one on 
whiske}', much like that which we have in our day. 
Those who made whiskey had to pay a certain sum 
to the general government, on every gallon made. 
This tax bore hard on the farmers of what was then 
the West, especialty those in the western part of 
Pennsylvania. 

These farmers raised large crops of corn, and corn 
was worth but little to them, because of the great 
cost of getting it across the mountain range to the 



THE YOUNG NATION 123 

coast where it could be sold. They made a practice 
of making whiskey from the corn, and sending the 
much less bulky whiskey to the coast. Raising corn 
and making it into whiskey was about the only way 
in which they could make a living. The tax on 
whiskey ruined their business, and they declared 
that they would not pay it. 

It was a matter between men of the State of Penn- 
sylvania and the general government, the Nation. 
It was now to be seen whether the Nation could 
enforce its laws in a State. The Nation's officers 
were driven away. Others, sent by the President to 
explain, were not given a hearing. At length, the 
President sent an army of fifteen thousand men to 
that part of Pennsylvania, where the trouble was. 
At this show of force, the farmers gave way. The 
National Government had shown that it could rule, 
and not only make a law, but enforce it, in a State. 

84. America's Chance for Greater Commerce. 

The war [between France and England went on. 
Each nation swept the commerce of the other from 
the sea. The carrying of goods upon the ocean was 
done largely ])y American vessels, and they were very 
l)usy and earning great profits for their owners. 
Many of them were used to carry food-stuffs to the 
two nations that were at war. American ship-owners 
had so much to do, that it was hard to get sailors 
enough. Wages for seamen were higher than ever 



124 SHORT AMERTCAX HISTORY 

before, much higher than were paid by EngHsh ship- 
owners. English sailors were tempted l^y the high 
wages to serve on American vessels. Sailors of the 
British Navy deserted, whenever they got a chance, 
and worked on American vessels, and some even 
enlisted in the American Navy. This made British 
merchant-ships and even British naval vessels short- 
handed. 

85. Our Vessels Searched for Sailors. 

England did not like to lose her sailors and she 
tried to put a stop to their deserting. She did not 
wish Americans to send ships to sea, and whenever 
one of her war-ships met an American ship, that 
might be carrying goods to France, it seized her. 
English cruisers made a practice of halting all 
American vessels and searching them, to see if there 
might he British deserters on board. If there were 
any sturdy strong-looking sailors on the American 
vessels the British naval officers were very likely to 
take them off whether the}' were deserters or not. 
They would seize an American and drag him away, 
saying that he was a deserter, and would make him 
serve on their war-ships, and there was no help for 
it. 

The course of England made the followers of 
Jefferson still more eager for a war in behalf of France. 
The feeling of anger against England grew so strong 
that there was danger of war. 



THE YOUNG NATION 125 

86. The Jay Treaty. 

But Washington knew that war was ruin, and lie 
proposed a new treaty with England. It was made 
in 1794, by John Jay, and is known as the "Jay 
Treaty." It was not a fair settlement, and it left 
some matters in dispute, but it was the best that 
could be made. England still held that she had the 
right to search our ships for supposed English de- 
serters. Jefferson and his party urged war; but the 
President was wiser than they, and knew better what 
would come from it, and war was avoided. It some- 
times takes more courage to refuse to fight, than it 
does to fight. Washington had the courage to refuse. 

87. The Spanish Treaty. 

It was not alone with France and England that the 
weak United States had trouble. Spain had no 
respect for the young nation. There were Spanish 
soldiers in forts on United States soil, and Spain 
would not remove them. The Mississippi River 
flowed for many miles through the Spanish country, 
and it was only by means of that river, that the 
American farmers in its valley could send their prod- 
ucts to the sea, to be then shipped for sale in other 
countries. The Spaniards would not let the goods 
go through, although the right of navigation in that 
river was given us by the treaty of Paris at the close 
of the Revolutionary War. But in 1795, a treaty 
was made with Spain which opened the way for our 



126 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

western products to reach the sea by means of the 
great river. 




JOHN ADAMS. 

88. A New President. 

Washington could have been chosen President for 
a third term, had he so wished. But he refused to 



THE YOUNG NATION 127 

hold the office again and retired to private Hfe as he 
had retired from the army. In the wrangle of poli- 
tics, he had been abused and shamefully slandered 
and he was tired of public life. In his farewell 
address, he charged his countrymen to preserve the 
Union, to keep it strictly honest in all its dealings, 
and to keep it clear from the affairs of European 
nations. 

Washington was followed, as President, by John 
Adams, of Massachusetts, a statesman whose ideas 
of the way the country should be governed, were like 
those of the great man he succeeded. Thomas 
Jefferson was the new Vice-President. 

89. France. 

As a republic, France had at the head of the 
government, not a President, as the United States 
had, but a committee of five called the Directory. 

When Adams became President, he found France 
an enemy to the country. The Directory had 
ordered the American Minister to leave France. The 
news of this, coming by sailing-vessel across the sea, 
did not reach Philadelphia until Adams had been in 
office some days. There was great anger in the 
country, and some Americans said that we ought to 
go to war with France. But it was the part of 
wisdom for the young nation to hold to peace, and 
to gain strength, rather than to fight and lose it. 

President Adams sent Marshall, a strong man, 



128 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

yet U) !)(> known us a very great one, with Gerry, 
to join Pinckney, wlio liad been ordered from France. 
The three were to meet the Directory and, if possi- 
ble, arrange for peace. Upon reaching Paris, they 
were called upon by agents of the Directory, and 
told that America must loan France a large amount 
of money and must give bribes to the members of 
the Directory, or further talk was useless. 

It now seemed that war with France was near at 
hand, and the Nation began to prepare for it. Wash- 
ington was made commander-in-chief. It was then 
that the Government created what is known as the 
Navy Department. Naval vessels were built and 
strong merchant-vessels were ])ought and made into 
war-ships. As soon as the Americans got ready, and 
that was very soon, the French began to see that 
they were likely to have serious troul:)le. After a 
show of force, the French became reasonable and 
promised to receive any minister the President might 
send, and to treat liim with proper respect. 

90. Napoleon Bonaparte. 

By this time, about 1800, the French Repu])lic liad 
been overthrown and a young man, Napoleon Bona- 
parte, destined to Ijecome one of the leading men in 
history, was in power. A treaty of peace was soon 
made. 

91. Death of Washington. 

In 1799, George Washington passed away. 



THE YOUNG NATION 129 

92. The Census. 

Ill 1800, the second census was taken. The Nation 
had a population of nearly five and a half milUons. 
There had been ten years of prosperity. During 
this time the town that is now the city of Cincinnati 
was founded. Carding, spinning, and weaving by 
machines run l^y water power, had begun, though 
home weaving was yet to be the method of cloth 
manufacture in America for many years. In those 
times, the spinning-wheel and the hand-loom were 
parts of the furniture of nearly all households of 
well-to-do people. Farmers raised their own wool 
and flax, and their wives made the family clothing 
from them. 

In 1791, the first American whaling ship entered 
the Pacific Ocean. She sailed from Nantucket, 
Mass. In 1792, Captain Gray, of Boston, sailed his 
good ship, the "Columbia", around South America and 
into the mouth of a great river of North America, 
flowing northwesterly into the Pacific. He gave 
the river the name of his vessel, and it is called the 
Columbia River to this day. On Gray's voyage, the 
United States, many years later, based a claim to 
the great Oregon country which now forms several 
States. 

In 1793, at Newburyport, Mass., crackers were first 
made in this country. Carolina rice was, by this 
time, beginning to be known as the best in the world, 
and was sent in large quantities across the sea for 



130 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

sale. In 1795, the first gold coins were sent out 
from the United States Mint, at Philadelphia. In 
the year following, type-making l^ecame a business 
in Philadelphia, and Pittsburg began its great glass- 
making industry. Wooden plows had been used 
up to this time, but now those made of cast-iron were 
coming into use. 

Immigrants began coming to this country in 180U, 
and they have been coming ever since. 

In 1800, there were two hundred newspapers and 
magazines in the country. "Away out West," then, 
and for many years later, meant western New York 
State and Ohio. 

By this time Washington had been laid out as 
the capital city, but nearly all of what is now known 
as the city was forest. The Capitol was being 
built and, during the term of President Adams, 
Philadelphia ceased to be the Capitol and Congress 
was held in its new home. But it was fifty years 
later when men saw the building completed. The 
City of Washington had about five thousand popu- 
lation. 

93. Election of Thomas Jefferson. 

In 1800, the presidential election occurred, and 
Thomas Jefferson was elected. This election was 
a victory of the common every-day people over 
those who were incUned to be aristocratic. Jeffer- 
son was of the common people. He carried on the 



THE YOUNG NATION 131 

affairs of government in a very simple manner. In- 
stead of riding from the White House, to the Capitol, 




THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



in a stately carriage, as Washington and Adams had 
done, he walked; and perhaps he was liked all the 
better for it. There was an absence of court form 



]:V2 SlIOKT AMKKICAN 1118TORY 

and ceremony at the White House, while Jefferson 
A\as President. 

Jefferson believed in cutting down expenses. He 
said that a nation, like a business firm, or a man, 
should save its money and pay its debts, and should 
practice economy to that end. "What need is there 
of spending so much on the army and navy?" said 
he. " We are not at war, and we are not likely to be, 
if we are peaceable and well-ljehaved as a nation. 
The trouble with France is over, and we can now do 
with a very small navy." This was not the spirit 
that Washington had shown, when he said, " In time 
of peace, prepare for war." Jefferson made the 
Nation weak, as a fighting power, but he kept down 
expenses, and paid off a large })art of the natioiinl 
debt. It might have been wiser to build up a power- 
ful navy, for use in case of need. The United States 
had once been saved from a terrible war with France, 
and perhaps from destruction, by being prepared to 
fight, and such a state of things might come again. 

94, The African Barbarians. 

The half-civilized people that live along the African 
shore of the Mediterranean Sea, in the countries 
called the Barbary States — Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli 
and Morocco, — are Mahometans and of a race called 
Moors. From before the time of Columbus, down to 
the days of Jefferson, it had been the practice of these 
Moors to capture the ships of the people of Europe, 



THE YOUNG NATION 133 

and make slaves of the sailors and passengers. So 
long had these pirates had their way in this, that 
they began to think that they had a right to such 
spoils as they could thus gain. So little spirit had 
some of the nations of Europe, that they regularly 
paid money every year to the robbers — that their 
ships might be let alone. Even the United States 
paid tribute to these pirates, to get them to cease 
plundering American ships, and murdering and en- 
slaving their crews. 

As early as 1785, two American vessels had been 
taken by the Moors, and twenty-one men of the 
crews were sold as slaves. Since then, many other 
American vessels had been taken. Many Americans 
would have been pining in slavery, in the Barbary 
States, had not more than a million dollars been paid 
to buy their freedom. 

This was worse taxation than any that England 
had ever laid, and the American Nation was in no 
mood to bear it. 

In 1801, Tripoli demanded, in a very insolent 
manner, that a larger tribute be paid by the United 
States. This insult was resented, and the Bashaw 
of Tripoli declared war. A fleet was sent in 1803, 
under Commodore Edward Preble, to teach the 
Bashaw of Tripoli what manner of men the Ameri- 
cans were. 

There was sharp fighting during the two years 
following, for the Tripolitans were a sturdy foe to 



134 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



deal with. On one occasion, an American frigate, 
the 'Thiladelphia, " struck a rock in the harbor of 




STEPHEN DECATUR. 



Tripoli, and with her officers and crew was taken by 
the enemy. It was too bad to lose the ship, but it 
was worse that the Moors now had a vessel, better 
than they could build, with which to fight us. 



THE YOUNG NATION 135 

Young Stephen Decatur, of Maryland, a naval 
lieutenant in one of the other ships, set out to destroy 
the '^Philadelphia," where she lay in the harbor, pro- 
tected by the guns of the enemy's- forts. With a 
small vessel that he had captured, he ran into the 
port one night and, before the Moorish crew of the 
^Philadelphia" could stop him, he was on board with 
his men. After a few minutes of fierce fighting, the 
crew were all killed, except those who had jumped 
overboard. Then Decatur set fire to the ship and 
retreated without losing a man. The ' 'Philadelphia" 
was completely destroyed. By 1805, the bashaw 
had had fighting enough and, for the time being, a 
treaty of peace was made. 

In 1803, Ohio came into the Union as a State, the 
first to be made out of the Northwest Territory. 

95. The Louisiana Purchase. 

The Spanish on the south and west were not 
pleasant neighbors. It was felt that, sooner or later, 
there might be war with Spain; but the people were 
not very much worried about that, for the days of 
Spain's great military strength had passed. The 
Spanish tried to stop the flow of American commerce 
from the great Ohio Valley, by way of the Mississippi 
River, which, near its mouth, ran for a hundred miles 
through their country. The people of the Mississippi 
Valley would not allow this, and soon trouble was 
brewing. The farmers of Kentucky and. Tennessee 



136 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

were ready to go down the river, and fight their 
way through. 

But, before the time for war came, it so happened 
that Spain sold -the country west of the great river 
to France. It was now France, under Napoleon 
Bonaparte, that was to be dealt with, in the matter 
of the right of way to the sea. The great country 
was still called Louisiana, just as it was when La 
Salle found it and claimed it for France. France had 
lost it; but now, under the great Bonaparte, she had 
regained it, and Bonaparte meant that, after all, 
there should yet be a great New France in America. 
France was now, under Bonaparte, one of the 
strongest nations of Europe. 

There was no reason why the United States should 
object to a French province as a neighbor, on the far 
side of the Mississippi, and no objection was made. 
But Jefferson thought it a good time to try to settle 
the question of the right of way, down the river, to 
the sea. He sought to buy the city of New Orleans 
from France, to settle this question. If the United 
States could have that cit}^, the Nation would have 
one bank of the river and France the other, and both 
could sail their boats upon the waters that flowed 
between. But if France continued to hold both 
banks near the sea, she could, in case of war, shut off 
the Nation's outlet. Jefferson picked out James 
Monroe who, as a young soldier years before, had 
helped Washington to capture the Hessians at Tren- 



THE YOUNG NATION 137 

ton, and who was to be President himself one day. He 
sent him to France to try to buy the City of New 
Orleans It is doubtful whether Bonaparte, if his 
plans had carried well, would have sold the city or in 
any other way have loosened his grip on the mouth 
of the river. But, as it happened, there was grave 
danger that France would soon be at war with 
England; indeed the war soon came. 

Bonaparte knew that, as soon as war was declared, 
England might seize the great Louisiana country and 
that with her command of the sea, she could hold it 
in spite of all that France could do. He was a far- 
seeing man, and he knew that France must part with 
Louisiana, or it was likely to fall into the hands of 
his enemy, England. Bonaparte, also, for another 
reason was willing to let the province go. He needed 
money for the coming war, and he saw a chance to 
get it by making the sale. So he told his Minister 
of State to offer to the American Commissioners not 
the city alone, but the whole territory, and to sell 
all of it, at a low price. 

The offer was made, and the American Commis- 
sioners accepted it, at a price of fifteen millions of 
dollars. For this sum, the United States thus 
gained a new country as large as all they had before. 
Now the domain of the United States was bounded 
on the west by the Rocky Mountains and the Rio 
Grande River, and every foot of both banks of the 
Mississippi River, from its source to its mouth, and of 



138 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

all its branches was owned by our Nation. The cost 
of this land was about two and a half cents an acre. 
' '^I have, by this act, made the United States so 
great, that that Nation will some time humble the 
pride of England," said Bonaparte. Think of it! 
From that purchase have sprung Louisiana, Arkan- 
sas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, 
Nebraska, part of Kansas, Montana, Indian Territory, 
now Oklahoma, and nearly all of Minnesota, and large 
parts of Wyoming and Colorado. It was a great 
bargain. 

96. The Oregon Country. 

A vast country, great enough for an empire, lay 
north and west of the Nation's boundary line, in 
and beyond the region of the Rocky Mountains. It 
had never been explored. Indeed, much of the 
Louisiana Territory, especially in the north, had 
never been trodden by the feet of white men. Noth- 
ing was known of it, except what had been told by 
the Indians. 

"Let us search out our new country," said Jeffer- 
son, ''and even that which lies beyond." Parties 
were sent out to visit the unknown lands and to 
report. One band of explorers, kno^vn as the I^wis 
and Clarke party, started from St. Louis, a httle log 
cabin town, on the Mississippi, lying a short way 
below the place where that great stream is joined by 
the Missouri. Setting out in 1804, they made their 



THE YOUNG NATION 139 

way up the Missouri, which had been unexplored 
ever since it was seen by La Salle. Paddling against 
its swift and muddy current, they passed a point, on 
one side of the stream, where there were high bluffs 
of very fine sand. Here Indians used to meet, to 
hold their councils. These hills they named Council 
Bluffs. There is a city there now. On the other 
side, among hills less high, they found a tribe of 
Indians, called the Omahas. There is a city there, 
too, in our day. Between the two there is a great 
bridge, over which pass countless trains of cars, run- 
ning to and from the shores of the Pacific Ocean. 
Not many miles farther up the stream, they came 
to the lands of the Sioux Indians, where there stands, 
in our time, another city. 

Even as Father Marquette, Joliet, and La Salle 
had toiled up the Mississippi and its eastern branches, 
returning from their quests for their king : — so Lewis 
and Clarke and their men worked their way to the 
north and west against the sturdy flow of soil-bearing 
water, that came from the mountains, searching for 
the sea. Three thousand miles from where the 
river finds the salty tide, these hunters found its 
rising place, a little brooklet in the Rocky Mountains. 

They were on the great divide. They were on the 
ridge of the continent. As they stood facing the 
north, the streamlets on their right all sought the 
Gulf of Mexico, through the Missouri. On the left, 
all wound in and out among the mountains, never 



140 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

ceasing their flow, until their fresh current fell into 
the salt water of the Pacific Ocean, 

There were Indians in the mountains. There were 
Indians almost everywhere in North America, in 
those days. The Indians among the mountains had 
horses. They told the travelers that horses were 
new to the country, never known, until, far to the 
south, they were brought by Spanish soldiers, who 
years ago conquered the natives of Mexico. " Now," 
said they, "wild horses are common and we catch 
them and tame them." All this was true, for then 
as now, the plains of the great West were roamed by 
herds of wild horses, descended from the horses of 
Cortes and his men. 

The party bought horses from the Indians, and 
went on down the western slope. At length, they 
came to a river which, fed by man}^ branches, grew 
larger as it flowed. Turning their horses loose to 
become wild again, they floated down the stream in 
boats that they had made. It was the Columbia 
River, the same into whose broad mouth Captain 
Gray of Boston had sailed his ship, years before. 
Going on with their boats, they found themselves 
in the Pacific Ocean. 

After crossing the divide, they were beyond the 
bounds of the Louisiana Territory, and in a country 
belonging to no kingdom. It could rightfully be 
claimed by the United States by right of discovery, 
even as lands had been so claimed for centuries, by 



THE YOUNG NATION 141 

the exploring nations of Europe. The youngest 
nation in the world was seeking lands to claim, and 
was finding them, as England and France had done, 
so long before. 

On the voyage of Captain Gray to the Columbia, 
and on this journey of Lewis and Clarke, were based 
the claim of the United States, which, in later years, 
brought the Nation ownership of the great Oregon 
Country. From it have been made the States of 
Washington, Idaho and Oregon. The explorers 
were gone two years and a half, returning with their 
wonderful story, in 1806. 

In 1804, Jefferson was elected to serve a second 
term, as President. The country had prospered and 
he was greatly liked by the people. 

97. Trouble on the Sea. 

The war with England, that Bonaparte foresaw, 
came and was waged fiercely. On the land, France 
gained; on the sea, England, with her great navy, had 
the advantage. Each nation tried to injure the 
other b}^ ruining its trade. They took each other's 
vessels; they declared ports to be closed against each 
other. Neither England nor France had any respect 
for such a weak nation as ours. France insulted us 
and England bullied us, while Spain was insolent. 
They knew that we were weak. People in the United 
States now began to doubt the wisdom of being 
without a navy, that money might be saved, and 



142 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

hence of being unable to protect ourselves from ill 
treatment. 

Our nation was prospering. If we could remain at 
peace, we could gain strength and wealth, for the war 
in Europe gave the commerce of the ocean to our 
ships. We took no part in the war. As a people 
we attended strictly to our own affairs, following 
Washington's advice to keep clear of European 
quarrels. So well did the shipping business pa}', 
that American captains gave higher wages to sailors, 
than they could get for service in an}' other ships. 
Seamen began to desert from English merchant- 
ships and even from English war-ships, to engage in 
American vessels. English sea-faring men were 
good sailors, and the American captains were glad 
to get them. They encouraged such desertions. It ' 
ma}^ not have been neighborly to entice England's 
naval tars away, but it secured good men, and that 
was the main thing in the minds of the American 
skippers. 

England still complained that Americans were 
hiring English deserters from her navy, and said 
that she would take them wherever she found them, 
even if it were on board American war-ships. Her 
naval officers kept up their practice of searching 
American vessels on the sea, and taking by force 
such deserters as were found aboard. 

England needed seamen very much; so much so 
that her officers used to send gangs through the 



THE YOUNG NATION 143 

streets of her cities to kidnap men, to serve on vessels 
of war. Wanting men so much, the temptation was 
strong for her officers at sea to claim as deserters, 
fine-looking men on American ships, who had never 
served in the English navy and therefore could not 
be deserters. Hundreds of manly American sailors 
were thus seized and made to serve in English war- 
ships against their will, and tortured by the lash if 
they hung back. 

But what could the United States do about it? 
No matter how much they might want to fight, to 
put a stop to such barbarous and insolent doings, 
they could not, because they had no strong nav}^ 
They had been economical, and had saved the money, 
that should have been spent for war-ships, and now 
they had to suffer insult and abuse without daring 
to resent such treatment by fighting. 

Both England and France, while they fought each 
other, tried to break up the shipping industry of the 
United States. The American people took for their 
motto, "Free trade and sailors' rights." It meant 
the right to trade freely on the sea, and the right to 
have their sailors protected from English outrage. 

One day, in 1807, the frigate "Chesapeake," one 
of the very few war-ships our Nation had, was met 
not far from our own shore, by the British war-ship, 
'The Leopard." The British captain declared that 
there were four British deserters on the ''Chesapeake" 
and said that they must be given up. The captain 



144 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

of the ''Chesepeake" refused to give them up, and 
"The Leopard" opened fire. It was a time of peace 
for the United States, and the ''Chesapeake" was in 
no shape to fight. Her captain made no attempt to 
resist 'The Leopard," and the ship was boarded and 
the men taken off. 

This act was one of the worst insults ever offered 
by one nation to another. But what could our 
Nation do? It had been economical, and therefore 
it was unable to fight. Americans from one end of 
the country to the other were angry. But their 
anger was like that of a small boy against a strong 
man. We were helpless. 

Matters grew worse. American ships were carry- 
ing goods to England and France alike. France 
said "You must not send goods to our enemy, 
England," and England said, "You must not send 
goods to our enemy, France." Then each nation 
began to seize such American ships, as it could catch 
going to the other with goods. Soon the business of 
carrying goods by sea became very risky and un- 
profitable. It had to be given up, largely, because 
our Nation was too weak to fight and protect it. 

98. Embargo Act. 

At this point, Jefferson and some of his advisers, 
thought of a scheme to bring both France and Eng- 
land to terms. "They both of them need our 
products so badly," it was said, " that if we shut them 



THE YOUNG NATION 145 

off from getting them, they will soon be glad to 
promise us better treatment." So, an act was 




JAMES MADISON. 



passed by Congress, called the " Embargo Act," which 
forbade American vessels to leave our ports. 

This scheme of shutting off the French and English, 



146 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

from needed American supplies, hurt both of those 
peoples, but it hurt the Americans too. The great 
business of the New England part of the United 
States was the shipping trade; and the outlook was 
very gloomy when all the vessels owned by the 
New England people lay rotting in idleness at the 
wharves, with thousands of sailors out of work. 

Just as New Englanders before the Revolution had 
disobeyed the laws of England, and had sent out 
their ships, so they did now, in spite of the law, and 
of the President, and of the Congress. This course 
led to more severe laws, and then the New England 
people, began to talk about taking their States out of 
the Union. 

99. Election of Madison. 

At the close of Jefferson's second term, he might 
easily have been elected again. But, hke Washing- 
ton, he believed that no man ought to hold the office 
for three terms and, Hke Washington, he retired to 
private life. James Madison followed Jefferson, as 
President, beginning his term in 1809. 

Non-Intercourse Act. 

Very soon after he took the office, the hated Em- 
bargo Act was repealed, and a new law took its place. 
This was called the Non-Intercourse Act. It allowed 
American vessels to trade with all the world except 
England and France. Soon our ships were on the 



THE YOUNG NATION 147 

seas, laden with our goods. But both England and 
France kept seizing the ships of the country that 
could not defend itself because it had no navy. 

100. The Third Census. 

The census for 1810 showed that the population 
was about seven and a half millions. By this time, 
there were half a million people hving west of the 
Alleghanies. They were but very few compared 
with the number which that region could support. 
Jefferson was a wise man, but he was unable to fore- 
see the greatness of our country. He said that it 
would be a thousand years, before the country would 
be well peopled to the Mississippi River., 

In 1802, a few people began to use steel pens. Up 
to that time, the writing of the world had been done 
with pens made from the quills of the wing feathers 
of geese. That was the year when the Military Acad- 
emy at West Point was founded. In 1804, some 
cabins were built on the western shore of Lake Michi- 
gan, and thus the city of Chicago was founded. 

In 1805, the first trade-vmion was formed in 
America. It was started by the tailors of New York 
City. This year saw the beginning of the great 
export ice-trade, between Boston and cities in the 
torrid zone. A great business now began in the way 
of driving cattle, from beyond the Alleghanies to 
eastern towns. Thus, the grain and forage of that rich 
country was marketed. They were turned into beef 



148 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

by feeding, and the beef was made to walk to 
market. 

In 1806, coal was being mined at Maiich Chunk, 
Pa., and at Philadelphia a saw factory was started. 

In 1807, Fulton in his steam-driven boat, made his 
first trip up the Hudson River to Albany. What 
would he think of the steam-driven vessels of New 
York harbor to-day! His invention was one of the 
most important ever made by man. 

In 1808, began the steel-making industry of the 
United States, and during the same year the first 
Temperance Society of the country was formed. 

In 1809, there was a steamboat on Lake Champlain 
and the fii'st machine to turn out screws was work- 
ing in ]\Iassachusetts. 

In 1810, King George III of England, he who had 
driven the colonies into rebellion, became insane and 
was put under restraint. 

SUMMARY. 

1. The Continental Congress lacks authority over the States. 

2. A coinniittee appointed to draft laws for a new govern- 

ment. Articles of Confederation. 

3. Defects of the Articles of Confederation. 

4. Ordinance of 1787. 

5. Constitution of the United States takes place of Articles of 

Confederation. 

6. Slavery. Opposition to it in all the States. 

7. The first Pre.sident. 

8. Constitution defective. Amendments made. 



THE YOUNG NATION 



149 



First tariff law.s. 

City of Washington, the new Capital. 

The making of coin liegins. Bank of the United States. 

The pohtical parties. 

War of France against England. The United States re- 
mains neutral. 

The cotton gin; its effect. 

Internal revenue, whiskey tax. 

England searches our ships at sea. 

A new President, John Adams. 

Quarrel with France. 

Napoleon Bonaparte of France. 

Thomas Jefferson, third President. Economy and sim- 
plicity. 

War with Barbary pirates. 

The Louisiana Purchase. 

Oregon Country. 

England still searches our ships. 

Embargo Act against England. 

James Madison, fourth President. Non-Intercourse Act. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 

Why were the Articles of Confederation passed? 

Did they give Congress sufficient power? 

What was done to secure a better form of government and 

to form a more ''perfect union" of the States. 
What was the Ordinance of 1787? 
At the close of the Revolutionary War, what was the feeling 

with regard to slavery? 
How many amendments were made to the Constitution 

during Washington's term? 
What were the tariff laws of 1 789? Why were they passed ? 
What were the two early political parties? 



150 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

9. What was the Prochimation of Neutrahty? Why was it 
made? 

10. How did the invention of the cotton-gin affect slaveiy? 

11. Why did England search our vessels on the high seas? 

12. What was the French Directory? How did they treat 

our minister to France? 

13. Who were the Barbary pirates? 

14. What was the most important event in Jefferson's first 

administration? 

15. Who explored the Oregon Country? What other country 

claimed this region by right of discovery? 

16. What was the "Embargo"? The Nou-Tntercourse Act"? 



I 



Chapter IV. 
TROUBLE WITH ENGLAND. 

loi. The War of 1812. 

England and France held to their evil course 
toward our country during Madison's first term. 
England was very abusive. By this time, fully a 
thousand of our trading vessels had been taken l^y 
the English navy, and thousands of good American 
sailors were serving against their will in English war- 
ships. They were like slaves, compelled to fight for 
their masters, and flogged if they did not do their 
work well. Insults and outrages from England could 
be borne no longer, and, though the United States 
was in no condition for fighting, war was declared 
against England, in June, 1812. 

It was a mistake. It was a case in which righteous 
anger overcame judgment. Some hot-blooded young 
statesmen from the Southern States, among whom 
were Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and John C. Calhoun 
of South Carolina', urged that war be declared, and 
they had their way. Much against his wish, Madison 
yielded, and the War of 1812 against England began. 
Had there been less haste it would have been better, 
for, no doubt a peaceful settlement could have been 
made. Older men with cooler heads, though angry 

151 



152 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

with England, felt that it would be wiser to wait, and 
were much in doubt as to the outcome. 

In 1812, the State of Louisiana was admitted to the 
Union. It was only a very small part of the great 
Province of Louisiana, that had been bought from 
France. 

The country was even less prepared for war than 
had been supposed. It lacked skillful officers to plan 
and direct the fighting. The great man of America 
was in his grave, and the countr}' sadly missed his 
counsel in peace, and his genius in war. 

The war went much against the Americans at first, 
and, as failure after failure marked the progress of the 
earlier campaigns, the Federal, or Republican party, 
that had opposed it, taunted the Democratic party, 
that had brought it on. During the war, a presiden- 
tial election, 1812, took place, and Madison was 
elected for a second term. 

Among the army Commanders were a few able 
men, such as Generals Scott, Harrison, and Andrew 
Jackson. The army was small and made up largel}' 
of volunteers. The navy, too, was small, but it was 
good. Taught by sad experience the need of a nav}'. 
Congress, since Jefferson's time, had provided for the 
building of some vessels. We had nearly twenty war- 
ships now, some of which, if not the best in the world, 
were as good as anj^ afloat. For sea-fighting com- 
manders, we had men such as Preble, Rogers, Decatur, 
Bainbridge and Hull, who had made themselves 



THE WAR WITH ENGLAND 153 

famous in the war with the pirates of the Barbary 
States, in the Mediterranean Sea. 

The young statesmen who had so rashly brought 
on the war were equally rash in causing it to be 
pushed with vigor. They said, " In setting a navy of 
twenty vessels to fight one of a thousand we can do 
but little on the sea, but we can conquer on the 
land." They made the same mistake that was made 
by the colonies in the first year of the Revolution. 
They thought that if Canada was invaded the Cana- 
dians would join them, and would rebel against 
England. But the Canadians of 1812 were like those 
of 1775. They were satisfied with English rule, and 
they opposed the army that invaded their country. 

It was quite as hard to raise money for the War of 
1812, as it had been, years before, to raise money for 
the war of the Revolution. 

102. Hull's Surrender. 

On July 12, 1812, the American Army, led by 
General WilHam Hull, a veteran who had fought 
under Washington, crossed the Detroit River into 
Canada. Hull told the people there that he would 
not harm the Canadians if they remained quiet ; that 
his fight was against England and not against them. 
Many of the Canadians soldiers deserted and joined 
Hull's army. He was about to march against a fort 
on the Detroit River, when, suddenly changing his 
mind, he retreated to the American side of the river. 



154 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Some one had told him that a large force of British, 
with many Indians was coming to attack him. He 
had been tricked by the British by a false story, much 
as the British general St. Leger was, when Arnold 
scared him away during the Revolution, by a tale 
of advancing forces. Not long after this, Hull sur- 
rendered his entire force to a British army coming 
to attack him, much to the disgust of his officers and 
men. For his shortcomings he was tried and sen- 
tenced to death, but he was not executed. It 
appeared later that he had not been so watchful as 
he should have been, and that he acted in good faith 
but with bad judgment. This was a bad beginning 
of the war. With Hull's surrender we lost an army, 
and all the country from Detroit to Fort Dearborn, 
which stood where now stands Chicago. We also 
lost control of the great lakes. A second attempt 
to invade Canada was made during the year and 
that too was a failure. 

103. Our Navy in 1812. 

The army failed sadly in the first year of the war; 
but the nnYj made up for it by a season of success. 
The United States Frigate, ''Constitution" was one of 
the best vessels in our navy, and one of the very best 
that sailed the sea. Her commander, Isaac Hull, 
was a nephew of the General William Hull, who had 
surrendered at Detroit, and he was as good a fighter 
as his uncle had been, when under the command of 
Washington. 



THE WAR WITH ENGLAND 155 

Hull sailed from Chesapeake Bay for New York, 
with the ship, and on the way, he was chased by a 
fleet of English war vessels. In war, there is a time 
to fight, and there is often a time to run away and, 
like a good commander, Hull knew it. This was a 
time to run. One vessel, however good, could not 
stand in a fight with several, so Hull did his best to get 
away. The British fleet gave chase and were gaining 
on Hull when the wind went down. 

It was a trying time for Hull. If the enemy 
gained on him a little more, their ships would be near 
enough to riddle his ship with cannon shot, and they 
would surely sink her; so he tried hard to escape. 
He put out his boats filled with his strongest oars- 
men that they might tow the ship along. When the 
British saw this, they did the same. It was a strange 
rowing match, and the men pulled for a big prize. 
The British began to gain, and it seemed that all 
would soon be over with the good ship "Constitution." 

But Hull thought of another trick. ''Heave the 
lead," he shouted. ''See how deep the water is." It 
was as he hoped ; the water was shallow. Now he put 
an anchor in a boat at the end of a long cable, and 
told his men to row the length of the cable. Then 
they dropped the anchor. As it caught on the bottom 
the men on the ship began to wind in the cable with 
the windlass, and thus the ship was pulled ahead 
to where the anchor lay. Again and again, was this 
done and steadily the ship gained on her pursuers. 



156 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Soon Hull saw a wind-and-rain squall coming, and 
he saw, too, that it would strike his ship before it did 
the ships of the foe. Calling in his boats, he spread 
his sails and when the squall struck them, the noble 
vessel plunged ahead hke a race-horse. Before the 
squall reached the British ships, Hull was making 
good headway. The thick rain hid his ship from the 
British crews, and when the storm cleared, she was 
out of sight. 

Of course the British fleet was searching for him, 
and it la}^ between him and New York, the port he 
wished to make. He gave up his purpose of going 
to New York, and squared away for Boston harbor 
which he reached safely. 

104. The "Constitution" and the "Guerriere." 

Hull sta5^ed at Boston just long enough to take on 
some needed supplies. Then, before an order to 
remain at Boston could reach him from Washington, 
he set out in hope of catching one of those pursuing 
ships alone. He wanted to give its crew the chance 
to fight that they seemed to wish. A few days later, 
while cruising in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, he sighted 
one of the very ships that had chased him. It was 
the ^'Guerriere," the largest of all of them. It was a 
chance for a fair fight, and Hull took it. 

In thirty minutes, the fire of the "Constitution" had 
so badly smashed the "Guerriere," and had killed so 
many of her crew, that she surrendered. She was 







BATTLE OF "CONSTITUTION-' AND "GUERRIERE. 



158 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

SO badly shattered, that she could not be taken to 
port, so Hull blew her up and sank her. Hull lost 
seven men in the fight, while the British loss was 
seventy. The ^'Constitution" was so little damaged 
that she was ready for another fight. From that day 
the ' 'Constitution" was known as "Old Ironsides." 

105. Other Naval Battles. 

Captain Hull soon after retired from command of 
the ''Constitution," and Capt. William Bainbridge, a 
man well worthy of the honor, took his place. On 
the last day of the year, 1812, Bainbridge, while cruis- 
ing near the coast of Brazil, met the British frigate 
"Java." In two hours, he shot her to pieces so badly 
that she surrendered. He took off such of her crew 
as were left and destroyed her. His loss was small. 

The American war-ship "Wasp/' while sailing 
toward the West Indies, fell in with the British naval 
vessel, "Frolic," and gave her battle. Scarcely had 
the fight begun, when the "Frolic" lay, a shattered 
hulk, with her crew nearly all killed or disabled. 
Unfortunately for the "Wasp," however, a big Brit- 
ish battle-ship came up and took both the "Wasp" 
and her victim to Bermuda. 

The "Hornet" under Capt. James Lawrence, while 
cruising off the coast of South America, met the 
British brig "Peacock" and sank her. 

Soon after that, Lawrence, in command of the 
"Chesapeake," was dared by the commander of the 



THE WAR WITH ENGLAND 159 

British ship ''Shannon/' to sail out from Boston and 
fight. It was in June, 1813. In the battle that 
followed, Lawrence was badly wounded and his ship 
was surrendered after very fierce fighting. 

Out of eighteen fights the Americans had won 
fifteen. The world was surprised at the victories 
won by American vessels over English ships, for 
England had long been called "The Mistress of the 
Seas." 

The sea swarmed with American privateers. 
Before the war was ended, they had taken twenty- 
five hundred British vessels. This was paying 
England for her own evil deeds, for she lost more 
merchant ships during the war than all she had 
taken before war was declared. The Americans lost 
some merchant ships however while the war went on. 
Before the war was ended, England by massing her 
navy in American waters, was able to prevent many 
American merchant ships from leaving port. 

1 06. Perry's Victory. 

There was naval fighting on the lakes, as well as 
on the high seas. Oliver Hazard Perry, twenty-seven 
years old, a skillful naval officer, was ordered to go to 
Lake Erie, to build a fleet of ships with which to fight 
the British, and to drive them from the lake. This 
was to regain control of the lakes, that had been lost 
b}^ Hull's surrender. With a force of workers. Perry 
went to the shore of the lake, and from trees that 



160 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

grew in the forest there he built, in the fall of 1813, a 
number of small vessels. These, with a ship he took 
from the British, and three small schooners that he 
had bought, made a fleet of nine vessels. 

SaiUng in search of the British fleet in September, 
he soon found it. After a desperate fight he captured 
all of the vessels of the enemy, and thus regained the 
lakes for the United States. Never before in all her 
history had England lost a whole fleet. This victory 
made the British quit Detroit, and the entire country 
along the southern part of the lake. 

107. McDonough's Victory on Lake Champlain. 

A year later, September, 1814, there was another 
lake victory won by the Americans. A British army 
marched south from Canada, along the west shore of 
long and narrow Lake Champlain. With it along 
the lake, sailed a fleet of Enghsh war- vessels. The 
Americans had a few war-vessels on the lake under 
command of Commodore McDonough. He skill- 
fully arranged his few ships in such a way that when 
the British fleet came, it would fight at a disadvantage. 
It came; and in not touch more than two hours it 
was defeated. Without the fleet, the British army 
could not go on, so it turned about and made its way 
back to Canada. McDonough's victory saved New 
York State from invasion. 



162 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

1 08. The British at Washington. 

The war dragged along, neither side making any- 
great gain. Late in the summer of 1814, the British 
landed five thousand men on the shore of Chesapeake 
Bay, and made a dash for Washington. Six thou- 
sand Americans, untrained in arms, tried to stay the 
advance of the British, but they were quickly put 
to flight by the trained British veteran soldiers. 
The fight and pursuit became a race. The British 
entered the city and at once set fire to the Capitol 
and destroyed it. Then they burned the President's 
house, the Treasury Building, and other government 
buildings. The}^ said that they destroyed these gov- 
ernment buildings to punish the Americans, who had, 
early in the war, burned some public buildings in 
Canada. 

109. The Star-Spangled Banner. 

The British soon left Washington, The next move 
of the enemy was an attempt to take Baltimore. 
The fleet attacked Fort McHenry which defended the 
city. Though they bombarded it furiously, they 
could not take it, and they withdrew with some loss. 
During the fighting at Baltimore, a patriotic citizen, 
held as a prisoner on one of the English vessels, wrote 
"The Star-Spangled Banner," which soon became 
and has since remained, one of America's favorite 
patriotic songs. 



THE WAR WITH ENGLAND 163 

no. The Desire for Peace. 

The war, as it went on, became more and more 
burdensome. The cost of carrying it on was very 
great. Many of the American people beheved it 
to be a needless war, into which the country had 
been drawn by those who had not had the foresight 
to count the cost, or judge of the outcome. Many who 
had been keen for a fight at first, had now tired of the 
strife, and there was a general desire for peace. 
England, too, was tired of the war and, with a strong 
feehng for peace on both sides, there was a good 
prospect that the nations would come to an under- 
standing. 

By this time, England had defeated France, and 
crushed the power of Bonaparte. She could now 
turn all her strength against the United States. At 
once the greater part of her vast navy crossed the 
sea to the American coast, and her ships prevented 
American war- vessels fr.om leaving our ports. There 
was now no chance for ship-to-ship fighting. If an 
American naval vessel went out, she was sure to meet 
half a dozen British war-ships. 

III. Battle of New Orleans. 

Very bad management, as a rule, had been shown 
by the leaders of the American armies. Badly 
commanded, as they were, the American soldiers had 
been unable to hold their own against the troops of 
the enemy. In but one instance did the Americans 



164 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

win a glorious victory, and that was so late in the war 
that peace had been concluded before the battle was 
fought. It was the battle of New Orleans. 

England was tired out by her great and victorious 
war with France, and her people wanted peace as 
much as the people of the United States did. But 
while arrangements for a treaty of peace were going 
on, both nations kept up the war. In the fall of 
1814, the British sent a very strong fleet, bearing an 
army, to take New Orleans and to gain command of 
the Mississippi River. General Andrew Jackson 
commanded the American forces in the South, and 
upon him, fell the duty of defending the city. 

On December 24, 1814, the treaty of peace was 
signed at Ghent, in Belgium, and the report, with 
orders to stop all fighting, was sent at once to Amer- 
ica. In our day, such news would cross the sea in a 
minute, by an ocean cable message; but in those days, 
news could cross the ocean only so fast as sailing 
vessels could be moved by the wind. After the 
treaty of peace, but before word of it reached this 
country, the battle of New Orleans had been fought, 
January 8, 1815. 

The army that came to take New Orleans was 
twelve' thousand strong, and was made up of some of 
the very soldiers that had defeated the great Bona- 
parte's armies in Europe. They were the best sol- 
diers that England had. The six thousand men com- 
manded by Jackson were nearly all raw militiamen, 



THE WAR WITH ENGLAND 165 

many of whom had never been in a battle. Man for 
man they were as good fighters as could be found 
anywhere, for they were mostly hardy woodsmen 
and planters, all well used to shooting. They had 
that kind of courage that would make each man 
stand and fight, no matter how many others might 
run away. 

The land is low and swampy around New Orleans. 
The only way, by which the British could make the 
attack, was along a narrow strip by the river. Jack- 
son posted his men across that narrow strip just back 
of a small canal. To flank his force, that is, to pass 
around it, was impossible. The attack must be 
made in front. In some respects it was such a fight 
as that of Bunker Hill during the Revolution. The 
British troops had to attack American raw troops 
posted behind breast-works. 

On Jackson's earth-works he had about a dozen 
cannon. His men were placed behind the breast- 
works, which were heaps of earth thrown up as high 
as a man's breast. There, only their heads could be 
seen as they aimed and fired at the fully exposed 
bodies of the advancing foe. It was simply a ques- 
tion whether the green fighters would stay or whether 
the advancing masses could scare them out. If they 
stayed and fought, no army on earth could dislodge 
them, for men could not come within range of their 
fire and live. There was no danger of running out of 
powder and ball as the patriots did at Bunker Hill. 



166 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

■ All that it was necessary for the Americans to do, to 
win a victory, was to hold their ground. 

For several days the British were busy in getting 
ready to make their grand attack, and during that 
time there was more or less firing. At day-break, 
January 8, 1815, a beautiful Sabbath, while the 
laggard winds were pushing along the ship that 
was on her way with tidings of peace, the grand 
assault was made. 

The invaders came on like British soldiers, and, 
like British soldiers, they came again and again, 
those that were not dead. For three hours they 
endured that deadly fire, and offered up their Hves 
for their king. Then they gave up the hopeless 
task, for they saw that to perform it was beyond 
the power of man. The British lost twenty-five 
hundred men and many officers, among whom was 
the gallant General Pakenham, their commander. 
The American loss was very small. 

It was a wasted battle ; it was a needless victory ; it 
counted for nothing, for the war was over. 

112. Close of the War. 

The war closed without either side being victorious. 
It left things much as they would have been had 
there been no fighting. The same result could prob- 
ably have been reached by peaceful agreement before 
the war. 

Under the treaty of peace, England did not agree 



THE WAR WITH ENGLAND 167 

to stop the practice of searching our vessels for 
deserters. But she did stop it, and never, from that 
day, has a British Captain stopped an American 
vessel at sea, for such a purpose. 

In some ways, the War of 1812 was of great good 
to the United States. It made our people feel that 
this Nation was able to take care of itself among 
nations. It made other nations respect our vessels 
on the seas. During the war, articles that we needed 
were made at home, and the Americans turned more 
than ever before to manufacturing. Our manu- 
factures have grown rapidly ever since the war 
of 1812. The greatness of Lowell, Fall River and 
Lawrence, Mass., as manufacturing cities, had its 
beginning in that war. 

113. Barbary Pirates. 

The Mahometan pirates of the Barbary States 
took advantage of us during our war with England, 
and began again to prey upon our merchant-ships, 
in the Mediterranean Sea. At the close of the war, 
when some of our war-vessels could be spared for the 
purpose, a fleet was sent to the Mediterranean, under 
Commodore Decatur, to put a stop to this practice. 
In a very short time these people were brought to 
terms and they have never troubled us since. 

114. The Tariff. 

Soon after the war, the merchants of Europe began 
sending cargoes of goods to America for sale. They 



168 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

were such goods as the people needed, and they could 
be supplied to us at lower prices than our own 
manufacturers could afford to take for similar goods. 
This was because laboring people in Europe would 
work for very low wages, and because the mills 
in Europe were well-established, and their managers 
knew better than ours how to make the goods. It 
seemed that our factories would have to stop, because 
the people would buy cheap foreign goods rather 
than more costly goods made in our own countr}^ 
A tariff was laid on these foreign-made goods to 
protect our home industries. 

SUMMARY 

1. The second war with England. 

2. Hull's surrender. 

•S. The "Constitution" fights the "Guerriere". 

4. Other naval battles. 

5. Perry's victory. 

6. Commodore McDonough's victory. 

7. Capture of the city of Washington. 

8. Battle of New Orleans. End of the war. 

9. New Tariff Law. 

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

1. What was the chief cause of the War of 1812? 

2. Name and give an account of some of the land battles. Of 

some of the naval fights. 

3. Whatbattleended the war? Give an account of it. 

4. Why was a protective tariff passed after the war? 



Chapter V. 
FROM THE WAR OF 1812 TO THE MEXICAN WAR. 

115. President Monroe. 

In 1816, James Monroe, of Virginia, who had 
fought for his country with Washington, and who 
had done good work for the Nation in the purchase 
of Louisiana, was elected President. In 1817, he 
moved into the White House, as the President's 
mansion at Washington is called, though there was 
much to be done to it yet, before it would be really 
finished. The bitter wranglings between parties had 
now ceased; the country was prosperous; it was a 
period of good feeling. 

116. Florida. 

Between our country and the sea upon the south, 
lay what is now the State of Florida, which at that 
time was owned by Spain. 

The country was part of that through which early 
Spanish explorers wandered, and thus in the begin- 
ning it belonged to Spain. After the French and 
Indian War, Spain granted it, with other land reaching 
west to the Mississippi, to England by treaty and, at 
the close of the Revolutionary War, England gave it 
back to Spain by treaty. 



170 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Spain now held it. It was worth but httle to Spain, 
for it had no mines, nor were its inhabitants worth 




JAMES MONROE. 



plundering. Spain neglected it, and it was very 
badly governed. 

There was war between the United States and some 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 171 

of the Indians in the South, and, whenever our sol- 
diers went after them, these Indians ran across the Une 
and escaped into Florida. 

According to the law of nations, the soldiers of 
the United States could not rightfully pursue these 
Indians into a country owned by another power. 
There was so little of law and order in Florida that 
criminals from all quarters fled there to escape 
justice, and the country became peopled by a very 
bad class of inhabitants. Some of the white men 
there helped the Indians in making up war parties 
to cross the line into the United States on errands 
of murder. 

General Jackson, he who had commanded in the 
South in the War of 1812, had no love for the people 
of Florida, for they had helped the English against 
him in that war. Now, being again in command, in 
the war with the Indians, he did not hesitate to follow 
the savage war parties into Florida. He did not care 
what Spain might say or do about it. He took 
the town of Pensacola, and caught and hanged two 
Englishmen who were helping the Indians there. 
Jackson was not a man to be trifled with. His 
headstrong course offended Spain, and there was 
some danger of war. 

President Monroe and his advisers saw that it 
would save much trouble if Florida belonged to the 
United States. It would make things safer for the 
Southern people, and would round out the country. 



172 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

If we could make Florida a part of our country it 
would cease to be the home of lamaway Indians and 
slaves as well as of criminal white men. Under good 
government, Florida would be valuable as one of 
the United States. If it could be got peacefully, 
even b}^ paying a large price for it, the purchase 
might prevent war, which would be much more 
costly. So, the Government bought Florida from 
Spain, in 1819, for five million dollars. After this 
purchase our coast line stretched from the mouth of 
the Sabine River, along the cost of the Gulf of 
Mexico, around Florida, and northward to the St. 
Croix River, at the eastern end of Maine. This was 
a reach of thousands of miles of coast with many 
harbors. We now had a longer coast than any 
nation of Europe. 

The country was fast recovering from the War of 
1812, and many people moved to the West. Before 
Monroe's term ended, Illinois, Mississippi and Ala- 
bama were admitted to the Union as States. Illinois 
was a free State, while IMississippi and Alabama 
allowed the ownership of slaves. 

117. Rise of Slavery Question. 

There had by this time grown up a great difference 
of opinion, with regard to slavery. Those who 
opposed it felt it to be very important whether each 
new State was to be a slave or a free State. So far, 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 173 

the number of slave States was equal to that of the 
free States. 

Power to decide for or against slavery lay in the 
two branches of Congress. By the call of States in the 
Senate, slavery and freedom stood evenly matched, 
two senators to a State. In the House of Representa- 
tives, however, the free States had many more 
members than the slave States, for they had grown 
so fast in population that they had many more 
congressmen. Wise men saw that there was a 
struggle coming between those who favored slavery 
and those who opposed it. Hence there was a desire 
on the one side, to have new States come into the 
Union as free States and on the other to have them 
come in with slavery. 

In 1818, the people of Missouri Territory asked 
that a part of the territory, where there were many 
slaves alread}^, be made a State of the Union. No one, 
anywhere, had anything to say against making the 
new State, but there was much said as to whether it 
should be a slave State or not. Congress was divided 
and the people took sides. Thus began that contest 
over slavery, which grew until it ended, nearly half 
a century later, in a terrible war. 

The people in the North, generally , opposed slavery, 
while those of the South were solidly in favor of it. 
The question was not so much as to whether slavery 
was good or bad, as it was whether it should be 
extended into States yet to be. Its enemies hoped, 



174 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

and its friends feared, that if it was not allowed to 
spread, slaver}^ would die. So the stmggle was, as to 
whether it should spread or not. Unhappily, this 
difference of purpose set the people of one part of the 
country, against those of the other. 

ii8. The Missouri Compromise. 

After much strife, Missouri was made a State with 
slavery, and Maine was made a State without slavery. 
Thus the number of slave States and that of free 
States remained equal. An agreement was made 
which became a law, that, forever after, all States 
made from territory in the Louisiana Purchase lying 
north of an east-west line across the countiy, even 
with the southern boundary of Missouri, should be 
free. The law was called The Missouri Compromise. 

It was thought now that the slavery question was 
settled; but it was not. Hatred of slavery grew 
stronger than ever in the North, while in the South 
the people became more and more firmly fixed in the 
belief that slavery was a good thing, both for the 
black race and the white. Southern statesmen, sure 
that slavery brought prosperity, made all other ques- 
tions give way to it, holding it to be the ver}^ life of 
the welfare of the South. Thinking that the North 
meant to destroy slavery in the end, the Southern 
people began to do all that they could to save and 
strengthen it. 

After Missoiu'i came in as a slave State, the course 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 175 

of Western settlement changed. Before, many peo- 
ple of the Southern States had gone to Illinois, a free 
State. Now, those of the South who went West 
sought homes in Missouri, where they could keep 
slaves. 

119. The Census. 

In 1820, the fourth census was taken. It showed 
that the country held nearly ten millions of people. 
Since the last census there had been great progress 
made in the art of navigation by steam. In 1811, 
men saw the first steamboat on a Western river. It 
ran between Pittsburg and New Orleans. Soon after 
that, the first steam ferry-boat in America began 
running, between New York and Hoboken. In 1819, 
a steamship, the ^'Savannah," crossed the ocean from 
Savannah to Liverpool. She made the voyage in 
twenty-six days, which was then thought to be 
wonderfully quick time. Her wheels were on the 
sides of the boat, as were those of Fulton's first steam- 
boat. 

Gas had now come into use for lighting purposes, 
and iron stoves began to be common, taking the 
place of the old fashioned fire-places. The cloth- 
making industry was rapidly growing in the New 
England and Middle States. 

By this time, the country east of the mountains 
was becoming well-peopled and the Mississippi Valley 
was filling with farms and towns. Public lands could 



176 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

be bought at a dollar and a quarter an acre. The 
cheap land drew people from the eastern part of the 
country, and from Europe. From thirteen States 
the Nation had now grown to twenty-four. The 
area of the country was three times as great as it had 
been at first. The building of wagon roads was going 
on. On one, running from the Potomac to the Ohio, 
more than a thousand freight wagons ran to and fro, 
mainly between Washington, Philadelphia and Pitts- 
burg. The wagon trains on the rough country roads 
did in their time, in a feeble way, what the railroad 
trains are now doing with wonderful results. The cost 
of moving goods between the Eastern cities and Pitts- 
burg was sixty from to a hundred dollars a ton. 

120. The Growth of National Pride. 

As the country grew in years and greatness, the 
people began to take pride in it. At first, patriotism 
seemed bounded by State lines, but those colony- 
bred people who had been devoted to their States, 
more than to their Nation, were passing away. 
Their children, familiar with the Nation and its great- 
ness, were taking their places. Men going abroad, 
especially those from the Northern part of the country, 
no longer called themselves citizens of Massachusetts, 
or of New York, or of Pennsylvania, but of the 
United States. The pride of the people of the new 
States was in the Nation, as a Union of States, rather 
than in the State in which they Hved. Emigrants 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 177 

left Europe for The United States, and not for Con- 
necticut, or New Jersey, or Indiana, or any other 
mere State. The broad patriotism that loved the 
great Nation was growing and was strong, especially 
in the free States. 

In the Southern States, the people clung to the 
idea that each State was a little nation. State pride 
and a firm behef that slavery was a glorious and good 
system was handed down from father to son. 

121. Immigration. 

Immigrants kept coming to America. They came 
faster and faster; but they shunned the slave States. 
They felt that a State wherein labor was thought to 
degrade a man, was no place for those who had left 
Europe to raise themselves and their families, by 
labor, to comfort and prosperity. These new-comers, 
who had found prosperity and happiness beyond their 
wildest dreams, loved the young Nation that had 
welcomed them, and whose laws protected them. 
They delighted in its growing majesty and power. 

122. Monroe Reelected. 

In 1820, Monroe was elected for a second term as 
President. 

123. The Holy Alliance. 

It was at about this time that Mexico, and some 
provinces in South America, broke away from Spain 



178 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

and became republics. By 1815, the power of Bona- 
parte in Europe was gone, and France was again a 
republic. The idea of self-government was spread- 
ing. Some of the rulers of nations in Europe became 
alarmed lest this new idea should weaken their hold 
upon their thrones. To check government by the 
people, the kings of Austria, Russia and Prussia 
l)anded together in defense of kingly power. This 
union was called The Holy Alliance. It was believed 
that the Alliance would soon become active, and that 
it meant to restore to Spain the provinces she had 
lost in America. It was feared that Russia was to 
be helped in gaining more hold on North America 
than she then had. In those days Alaska belonged 
to Russia and was called Russian America. The 
Holy Alliance was a danger to the United States. 

124. The Monroe Doctrine. 

President Monroe knew what was going on in 
Europe, and saw that the scheme of the three 
monarchs, if it should be carried out, might in the 
future work great harm to the United States. In 
his message to Congress in 1823, he stated that our 
Nation should take no part in the wars of European 
countries. He said that we would at all times look 
upon any attempt of European powers, to colonize any 
part of the Western Hemisphere, as threatening our 
welfare. He also stated that any such attempt would 
show an unfriendly feeling to the United States. 



* GROWTH OF THE NATION 179 

He knew that what he said would be known in 
Europe. This was a quiet way of saying to the 
nations in the Holy Alliance, and to the other nations 
of Europe, that they must keep their hands off from 
the countries of the American Continent, except such 
as they already controlled. It meant that there was 
to he no setting up of government by kings in the New 
Woiid. Such is the famous Monroe Doctrine. 

No law has ever been passed that states the Monroe 
Doctrine, but the people of the United States believe 
in it and stand ready to fight for it. Once, an 
emperor of France had dared to set up a monarch, 
in this part of the world, in Mexico. He made haste, 
however, to give up his scheme, when he saw that 
the United States was massing an army to drive his 
forces from Mexico, and that country remained a 
republic. Once, England moved as though to con- 
quer Venezuela, in South America, and again the 
United States were ready to fight. The nations of 
Europe know that before they can gain provinces in 
the new world, they must defeat the United States 
in a war. 

125. The Tariff. 

England always tried to help her own merchants 
and manufacturers, by means of laws that hindered 
other nations, and even her own colonies, from get- 
ting their trade away from them. Her favorite way 
of holding trade was to tax the goods which came 



180 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

into England from otjier countries. A tax on goods 
brought or imported into a country, is called a tariff. 
In Monroe's time, England tried to help her colonies 
in India, in their purpose to raise cotton. So she 
laid a tariff on American cotton, to keep it out of 
EngHsh ports. At the same time, she let the cotton 
from India come into England free from revenue 
duty, so that it might have a better chance to be 
sold. This tariff hurt the cotton-growers of the 
Southern States. They had been raising cotton, 
sending it to England, to be sold, and then buying 
in England, the very cloth made from that cotton. 
Now they had to pay a tax to England, before the}^ 
could sell their cotton to the English mill owners. 
They were shrewd enough to see that if factories 
could be built in America, their cotton could be sent to 
them to be made into cloth, just as it had been to those 
in England. They could sell their cotton to American 
mill owners and . also buy their cloth from them. 
They would thus escape the high prices they had 
been paying England for cloth. To keep the English 
cloth from our market, just as the English kept 
American cotton from their market, a tariff was laid, 
higher than before, on cloth brought to this country 
for sale. Since this tariff was to protect American 
planters and manufacturers, rather than to raise 
money, it was called a Protective Tariff. 

This Nation has always had more or less of a pro- 
tective tariff. Since ours is such a large country, 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 181 

with such varied interests, it has never had a tariff 
that has in all respects, pleased all the people. 

The South at first liked this tariff, for it helped the 
cotton industry. The North disliked it, because it 
hindered ocean commerce and hurt the shipping 
business. 

The tariff was in one way a good thing however. 
Soon the ship-owners of New England began to put 
their money into factories instead of ships, and began 
to make money from factories, even faster than they 
had from ships. Both ends of the country were 
gainers by the protective tariff. The streams of 
New England that for thousands of years had poured 
over the rocks in idle play, as they flowed to the sea, 
were now set at work driving the busy wheels of 
the spinning-frame and the loom. 

More than ever before, the forests in the South 
gave place to cotton fields, and it seemed that at no 
very distant time the streams of the South, would be 
made to work, in turning into cloth the cotton that 
grew on their very banks. People began to say, 
" WTien we need not buy a yard of cloth in Europe 
we shall be a stronger people than we were before. 
Let the Nation learn to support itself within itself. 
We could live and prosper if there were no Europe." 
From that time, not only cloth but hardware, and 
other needful things have been made more and more 
in this country. Formerly, we bought much more 
in Europe than we sold there, and we had to pay the 



182 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

balance in cash. Now, we sell to Europe much more 
than we buy, and Europe sends us money. 

126. Manufactures — Inventions. 

As manufacturing has grown, so have towns 
sprung up and grown. The growth of towns is good 
for a country. When people come together to live in 
towns they have improved schools, churches, socie- 
ties. They have new needs and the}^ make new efforts. 
Better roads, houses, halls, streets, parks, amuse- 
ments, and other things to make life better, come 
with the growth, in a country, of towns and of 
manufacturing. There was so much work to be 
done in America, new country that it was, that there 
were not hands enough to do it. Americans began to 
invent faster ways than were known before of doing 
work. They were, as they are now, very intelligent 
and earnest. In the old world, a man might plod at 
his trade all his life, as his father and his grandfather 
had done, without thought as to how the work might 
be done better or faster. Not so, with the American. 
He was, and is, always trying to think out a better 
and a quicker way to do things, as Whitney did in 
the picking of seeds from the cotton, and as Fulton 
did in the moving of boats. 

The inventive ability of the American people has 
been encouraged by the Government. The giving by 
the Nation of patents to inventors began as early as 
1780. These patents secure to the inventor the 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 183 

profits of his invention. From then till now, our 
Nation has led the world in great inventions. Under 
protective tariffs, often changing, sometimes unwisely, 
the manufacturing interests have grown, until in the 
making of an endless variety of goods, and in the 
prosperity that comes from being busy, our country 
very much excels an}^ other country in the world. 

127. Improvements. 

As a wise farmer tries to make his farm better every 
year, now by building a barn, now by putting up a 
wall, now by removing some rocks, now by draining 
a swamp, now by leveling a road, — so do a wise 
people improve its country. Under Monroe, the 
work of building great highways, between cities and 
across States, went on. The best known means of 
moving goods in Monroe's time was by boats, and 
by wagons drawn by horses. 

Railroads were unknown. Much money was spent 
by the general government in great highways. More 
was expended by States and towns, and the beginning 
then made, has been well followed up, even to our 
time. Canals were not new. They had been used 
for centuries in the old world. It was seen that they 
were needed in the new world. The State of New 
York had begun work on a great canal that was to 
run from Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes, to the 
Hudson River. In Monroe's time, this work had been 
nearly finished. 



184 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

128. A New President. 

In 1824, John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, 
a former President, was elected to succeed Monroe. 




JOHN QUINCV ADAMS. 

General Andrew Jackson was a candidate, and came 
very near to being elected. Indeed, many of his 
friends thought that, but for unfair dealings, he would 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 185 

have been elected, and they at once set about prepar- 
ing to elect him at the end of Adams's term. 

The time of good feeling in politics was over. 
Hard feelings had begun in the struggle of the elec- 
tion, and there was more or less bitterness between 
the parties all through Adams's term. There was a 
great difference of opinion as to the tariff. Calhoun 
of South Carolina, who had favored the protective 
tariff because he thought it would favor his beloved 
State, now saw that it would not. He had hoped to 
see cotton-mills spring up along its many streams, 
so that much of the white staple need not be carried 
a mile to be turned into cloth. He had thought to 
see villages and towns throughout South Carolina. 
He now saw that slavery killed enterprise and indus- 
try, and that it was useless for his State to hope to 
ever be anything but a farming country. He was 
the great leader of the South, and from the time that 
he took his stand against a protective tariff, to this 
da}'', the South has been in favor of free trade; that 
is, the letting in of foreign goods without a tax, or, 
at most, the admission of such goods at a low tax, 
laid only to get money to pay the expenses of govern- 
ment. . 

The South was not in power. Though its states- 
men tried to have the tariff tax made lower, it was 
made higher. 



186 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

129. The Erie Canal. 

In 1825, the Erie Canal, three hundred and sixty 
miles long, was finished. It had cost a vast sum of 
money, but it proved to be worth many times its 
cost. Before the canal was completed, freight on a 
barrel of flour from Buffalo on Lake Erie, to All^any 
on the Hudson River, had been ten dollars; after- 
ward it fell to thirty cents. Every man, woman, 
and child along the sea-board felt the good effects of 
the Erie Canal. It added many millions of dollars 
to the value of the farms along its course, for now 
the farmers could send their products to market 
and have something left after paying freight. 

The Erie Canal was the making of New York City. 
It was the only way by which the commerce of those 
great inland seas could reach its port. Goods could 
now be brought down the lakes, from the country 
about Lakes Michigan and Superior, to Buffalo. 
From there, they could be moved by canal to the 
Hudson, and could be floated down that river to New 
York. From that city they could be sent to the 
whole world. New York City began to grow, and 
soon became the largest city on our continent. It 
will soon ])e the largest city in the world. Peter 
Minuit was right when he bought Manhattan Island 
for twenty-four dollars, and said that it would one 
day be covered by a great city. 

A stream of canal boats, drawn by mules and horses, 
kept pouring the wealth of the West into New York, 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 187 

and a counter stream carried a wealth of manhood 
to people the great West. Land, the best in the 
world, was to be had at almost nothing an acre, and 
from the Eastern States and England poured the 
home-seekers to the West by way of the Erie Canal. 
As, in the colonial days, people came from Europe 
to escape ill-usage ; so, in later days, after our Nation 
was founded, others kept coming to our land. They 
wished to escape poverty and to improve their con- 
dition, and nowhere else on earth, were such chances 
offered to honest industry, as in the Northern and 
Western parts of the United States. 

130. The Railroads. 

A new means of movng goods and men, one that 
was to advance the Nation wonderfully, the railroad, 
was in use before the close of Adams's term. A road 
with iron rails was built from Baltimore, thirteen 
miles westward. From it has grown the great Balti- 
more and Ohio system. Other railroads were soon to 
follow, one in New Jersey and one in South Carolina. 
Early locomotives weighed, some of them, as much 
as seven tons; a hundred tons is now a common 
weight for a locom^otive. Steam-cars upon the land 
and steam-boats on the rivers, were the coming 
agents of greatness for the country. In colonial 
days, it took six days to travel from Philadelphia to 
Boston. Steam has reduced the time to a little more 
than as many hours. Commerce, in the early days, 



188 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

was the exchange of goods across the sea between 
the American coast region and Europe. Now, an 
American conamerce, greater than that of all the 
world then, and greater than all that now crosses 
the Atlantic, plies shuttle-like, by boat and car, all 
within the limits of our own country, east and west 
and north and south. 

131. Andrew Jackson. 

Ours was no longer an Atlantic slope country. A 
great part of our country lay west of the mountains, 
and many of our people lived there. Until this time 
the Presidency had been given to men who lived 
near the sea. It was now claimed that that great 
honor should be given to a man of the West. Andrew 
Jackson was of the West. He lived in Tennessee. 
Four years before this time, he had barely missed 
election. This time his friends rallied for him and 
he became President. 

The parents of Andrew Jackson had been Irish 
immigrants. They and their son hved at one time 
in a log cabin and were of the common people. 
Jackson had been a rugged backwoodsman, then a 
soldier, and was now a statesman. What he had done 
at New Orleans and in Florida, was well known, and 
the common people liked him. He was stern, simple, 
rugged, honest and fearless, self-willed and obstinate. 
People called him "Old Hickory," for they thought 
he had the strong quahties of the hickory tree. He 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 189 

was a Democrat, voted for by the Democrats of the 
North and the South. He was against a high tariff. 




ANDREW JACKSON. 



He hated many of those who favored a high tariff. 
He felt that he had been wronged by those who had 
prevented his election, four years before. He was a 



190 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

rude man, raised among rude men, but he was honest 
and patriotic. If there were those, bred in college 
and trained among gentry, who thought to use him 
in their schemes, they were to learn that, like the 
hickory, he was made of stern unyielding stuff. The 
Presidents had so far been gentlemen, in the sense 
that they were of high-bred families and were edu- 
cated and cultured. Here was a man without the 
courtly graces of the made-up gentleman. Here was 
one of Nature's gentlemen, in the highest and most 
honored office in the country.* 

During Jackson's term, the question whether the 
Nation was superior to the State was ])rought to the 
front by the course of South Carolina. In 1832, a 
new protective tariff bill was passed, which did not 
please the people of that State. Calhoun declared 
that the National Governm.ent had no right to so tax 
goods coming from Europe to the people of his State. 

He began to talk about the right of a State to 
declare laws of the Nation, such as it did not like, to 
be null, that is, of no effect. This was the Nullifica- 
tion Doctrine. 

The people of South Carolina proceeded to put in 
force the theory of Calhoun, and to carry out the 
threats they had made. They declared, in conven- 
tion, that the tariff law as passed by the Congress was 
of no force in South Carolina; — that it was null and 
void. They said that no duties laid by that law 
should be collected on foreign goods coming into 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 



191 



the State, and that, if force was used to collect them, 
the State would leave the Union. 




JOHN C. CALHOUN. 



This was the theory of States Rights carried very far. 
It meant that South Carohna had the right to say 
what laws of the general government she would obey 



192 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

and what ones she would not. The people of all the 
slave States, followed the lead of South Carolina, 
more or less, as that State supported the stand of its 
gifted son. The same old claim that had wrought 
such mischief when the Nation was forming was now 
again urged, that this country was a band of nations 
acting together by mutual consent, instead of a great 
and solid Nation, one and indivisible. 

From that day, until war settled it forever. States 
Rights was a question in politics that went hand-in- 
hand with the purpose of the slave-holding South, 
to spread slavery. 

132. The Nullification Doctrine. 

The President is the chief executive officer of the 
Nation. It is his duty to execute the laws. He makes 
oath that he will do that, when he takes his office. 
Jackson was President. He hated such a tariff as 
South Carolina complained of. He wished it to be 
done away with. But it was the law. As an honest 
man, he must keep his oath and execute the law, 
whether he liked it or not. He publicly declared 
that South Carolina must obey the law, and he sent 
troops and naval vessels to that State to compel 
the people to obey. The duties were collected in 
Charleston, as in all other seaport cities, and South 
Carolina did not leave the Union; — at least not then. 
Many years later South Carolina did leave the Union, 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 193 

or thought she did, but that is a part of a story to 
be told later. 

133- Jackson Reelected. The United States Bank. 

In 1832, Jackson was elected for a second term. 
Jackson believed in himself. If he thought that he 
was right, he cared nothing what others might think. 
Most people thought the National Bank, which had 
branch banks in many cities, and in which the 
Government money was kept, was a good thing. 
He thought otherwise. He believed that the men 
controlling the bank might and did use their great 
power in politics. He even believed they had used the 
power of the bank to defeat him, when he failed to 
be elected before, and that they had sought to prevent 
his last election. He ordered that the Government 
money be withdrawn from the bank. This was 
done and the bank afterwards went out of business. 

134. The Spoils System. 

Jackson believed that when a great political party 
had won an election, so that it controlled the public 
offices, the men of the other party, who were in office, 
should be turned out. Only those of the party that 
had won the election were to enjoy the honors and 
the profits of holding office. The salaries of offices 
were, he thought, in a sense, spoils, won by the 
victorious party, as spoils might be won in war; and 
he said, as had been said before, "To the victors 



194 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

belong the spoils." So he put men of his own party 
in office, throughout the country. It was a bad 
thing to do, for it set an example which was followed 
by all parties for many years. It caused elections 
to become largely mere scrambles for office, and 
caused the offices to Ije filled by men who, while 
shrewd politicians, were unfit for their duties. 

135. The United States Bank and the Surplus. 

In breaking up the Bank of the United States and 
in causing the Government money in that, and its 
branches, to be deposited in various State banks, he 
made another mistake; for some of the money was 
lost. 

The Nation was out of debt, and there was a large 
amount of money in the Treasury, for which there 
seemed to be no use. Unwisely, this surplus of 
money was divided among the States, and some of it 
was wasted. In a very few years the Nation badly 
needed that money. 

While Jackson was President, two new States came 
into the Union, Arkansas, in the South, as a slave 
State, and Michigan in the North as a free State. 

The States were still even, thirteen for it to thir- 
teen against it. 

136. Fifth Census. 

It was about the middle of Jackson's first term, 
when the census for 1830 was taken. The Nation 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 195 

had then nearly thirteen milHons of people. Steam 
printing-presses were running at this time and thus 
the power of steam was in use to spread knowledge. 
The people were reading more than ever before; 
therefore they knew more than ever before. The 
nation had begun the great work of improving the 
harbors and of putting up light-houses. Charts of 
the coast were being made, and this work has gone 
on ever since. 

The country was still so new that there were plenty 
of wild animals in the woods. The State of New 
York was paying thousands of dollars every year, 
to hunters, for killing wolves. 

Those were the days of hard work. Fourteen hours 
was a day's work, but people had begun to think 
that fewer hours and higher pay would be better. 
At this time, a lad of sixteen, named Abraham Lin- 
coln, was working on the Ohio River at six dollars 
a month. The pay was small, the days were long 
and the work was hard. What he did, he did well, 
however, all through his life, whether as boatman or 
President. 

Those who were opposed to Andrew Jackson now 
began to call themselves Whigs. The Whig party 
was to oppose the Democratic party for many years. 

A small thing, but a very important one, the 
match, now came into use. Matches cost at first 
two cents a dozen. They were whittled out by 
hand. Circular saws came into use about this time, 



196 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

and there were machines for planing boards, one of 
which could do the work of many men. The making 
of pen-knives now l:)egan in this country. They were 
so called because they were used in cutting quills into 
pens for writing. Up to 1830, the only thing in the 
way of a pencil, was a strip of lead by which a mark 
could be made on paper. Hence the name, lead 
pencil. Now began the making of pencils from 
plumbago, or, as it was then called, black lead. 
They were made at Salem. 

137. Two Wings of the Democratic Party. Slavery. 

The Democratic party, Jackson's party, had its 
great strength in the South, where people believed 
in slavery and States rights. There were two wings 
to the part}'. One of these believed with the people 
of South Carolina, that a State might at any time 
leave the Union and become an independent repub- 
lic. The other wing held to the belief of Jackson, 
that this is a Nation with power greater than that of 
any State. "The States," said Jackson, '^are in the 
Union and have no right to withdraw from it." In 
those times of danger, Jackson also said, "The 
Union; it must and shall be preserved." Jackson 
in his time had hanged men for their misdeeds. He 
once said that had South Carolina made war on the 
United States troops, sent to that State, at the time 
her people talked of leaving the Union, he would 
have hanged some of her leaders. 



c;howth of the nation 197 

During Jackson's two terms, the people of the 
South and those of the North drifted apart. A 
bitter feehng sprang up between the people of the 
two parts of the country. The cause of this feeling 
was slavery and the difference of opinion about it. 
There was much talk in the South against the Union. 
Jackson said that there was treason in the hearts of 
many in the South. He was also right in saying that 
the time would come, when the Union would be 
broken because of slavery. In the South, the citizen 
was likely to say: "What business is it to a man in 
the North, whether or not, we have slavery in my 
State, which is my country?" The Northern man 
would say: "The whole United States is my country 
and slavery in any part of it, disgraces me." 

138. Election of Van Buren. 

In 1836, Martin Van Buren, of New York, was 
elected President. He was descended from one of 
the old Dutch families, and had been Governor of 
that State. He had been one of Jackson's officers, 
and was the first Democrat to be elected from a 
Northern State. 

139. The Panic. 

In 1837, the results of one of Jackson's mistakes 
began to appear. The dividing of the Nation's 
money among the States, and the placing of the 



198 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Nation's cash in the banks owned by some of the 
President's friends, had made money so plentiful 




MARTIN VAN BUHEN. 



that people could borrow it easil}^ This had led to 
unwise dealings, and now, in Van Buren's time, 
came the panic that such foolishness had been sure 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 199 

to bring. People blamed Van Buren for it, when 
they should have blamed Jackson. 

The South Wants Texas. 

There was a growing demand among the friends 
of slavery for more territory in the South, from 
which to make slave States. They meant that, in 
some way, there should be more slave States than 
free States. In this way, there would be more sena- 
tors in Congress for slavery than against it. They 
wanted the Nation to take Texas as a territory. 
They knew that when it came into the Union it 
would be a slave State. Van Buren opposed the 
taking in of Texas, and the Southern people disliked 
him for that. But he w^as a good President; such is 
the judgment of those who have lived in later times. 

140. Sixth Census. 

In 1840, came the year for the sixth counting. 
Fifty 3^ears had passed since the first was taken, and 
it had been a half century of advancement. We had 
now more than seventeen millions of people. No 
other nation had ever grown so fast. There were 
now more than four times as many people as the 
Nation started with, and the people were all much 
better off. 

The inventors had been busy. The McCormick 
Reaper was in use. It saved labor for the farmer 
in the grain fields, as the cotton-gin had done for the 



200 SHOUT AMKRICAN lllS'l'OKV 

planter, in tlie cotton-fields. Cui'ious machines were 
now knitting stockings* by water power. The click 
of the steel knitting needles, in the hands of the 
busy housewife could still be heard, however, in 
thousands of homes, just it was were when the 
grandfathers of 1840 were boyish soldiers in Wash- 
ington's armies. The makers of iron in Pennsyl- 
vania had now learned to use hard coal in melting 
their ores. Charcoal had been in conmion use before 
this time for that purpose. 

By 1837, there were two hundred and fifty steam- 
boats paddhng up and down the jMississippi and its 
branches. The Cunard Steamship Company was 
running a great ferry line across the Atlantic Ocean. 
One of its ships made the passage in the then wonder- 
fully short time of less than thirteen and a half days. 
The passage is made in about a third of that time 
now. 

Chicago was growing to be a town of some size. 
It had mail from the East, once a week. A man on 
horsel)ack brought it. There were no express com- 
panies in those days; but in 1839, a man went into 
the business of carrying small articles for pay between 
Boston and New York. From that has grown the 
great express systems of our time. Tlie first j)i('ture 
taken by the action of light, the Daguerreotype, 
was made in 1839. From that beginning, has grown 
photography. 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 



201 



141. Election of Harrison. 

In 1840, the Whig party won the Presidency from 
the Democratic party, and elected WilUam Henry 




WILLIAM HKNHV HARRISON. 

Harrison of Ohio- Van Buren had l)een nominated by 
the Democrntic party Imt was defeated. Perhaps 
the Democrats would have won, had not the Whigs 



202 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

iianiecl for X'ice-Presidcnt , John Tyler of \'irgiiiia, who 
was really a Democrat. He was named that the 
party might gain votes from the Democrats. 




JOHN TYLER. 



Harrison, like Jackson, was a man of the people, 
who had shown himself to be a good fighter in war- 
fare against the Indians. 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 203 

The Whigs had won; but they were soon to lose. 
After a month of service as President, Harrison died. 
Tyler then became President; and the country had a 
Democratic president, after all. Instead of acting as 
a Whig, Tyler acted as a Democrat, and the victory 
of the Whigs proved to be a barren one. 

142. Public Lands. 

There were yet lands for many thousands of farms 
in the West. On this rich soil grew only the trees 
of the forest, and the grass of the prairies, as they 
were growing when Columbus set sail on his voyage 
of discovery. 

In 1841, Congress passed a law that land might 
be sold to settlers, at a dollar and a quarter an acre, 
provided the buyer would live upon the land and 
raise crops from it. This offer together with the 
fact that there were hard times in Europe, gave a 
new start to immigration. Every ocean steamer, 
and hundreds of sailing vessels, brought stout- 
hearted men and women to this country. Their 
sons and grandsons are now prosperous and honored 
citizens of the Western States that they helped to 
build. By this time, nearly all the public land east 
of the Mississippi had been taken, and the Louisiana 
Purchase region was filling up with people. 

143. The Telegraph. 

For a long time after Franklin told the world that 
lightning was a result of electricity, people had 



204 SHORT AM1<:RICAN HISTORY 

thought that electricity was a curious thing, and had 
thought no more about it. But one ingenious man, 
named Morse, had been trying to make this strange 
force useful to man. He found a way to send 
messages by electricity, through long distances, so 
quickly that their passage would take very little, if 
any, time. During Tyler's term, Morse went to 
Congress, and asked the Government to give him 
money enough to put up a line of wires from Washing- 
ton to Baltimore. He said that, with such wires, 
and the instruments he had invented, he could send 
messages from one city to the other, in a few seconds. 
So well did he state his case that tlie money was 
furnished, and he put up the first telegraph line in 
the world. He did all that he had promised to do, 
and from that beginning have sprimg the telegraph 
lines now in use. More than that, messages are 
now sent through the inv witliout wires, across the 
ocean. By wireless telegraphy, captains of ships can 
talk with each other, though they are hundreds of 
miles apart. 

144. Texas. 

The Republic of Mexico, once a province of Spain, 
consisted of several states, of which Texas was one. 
Texas adjoined the United States, and many Ameri- 
cans went there and settled on lands granted to them 
by the general government of Mexico. These set- 
tlers were mainly from the Southern States and they 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 205 

took their skives with them. So well did they pros- 
per that soon there were! more Americans in Texas 
than there were Mexicans. 

At length, Mexico passed a law putting an end 
to slavery in all the Mexican states. When Mexico 
sought to put the law in force in Texas, these Ameri- 
cans would not give up slavery. They rebelled 
against the Mexican government and, under their 
control, Texas seceded from Mexico and set up as an 
independent republic. The Mexicans thought that 
this was a poor return for their kindness in allowing 
Americans to settle in their country. 

Mexico tried to put down this rebellion, but the 
Americans under General Houston defeated the 
Mexican troops and, in 1837, Texas was recognized 
as a nation by the United States. Houston was the 
first President of the new republic. 

Other nations of the world had as much right to be 
friendly with Texas, and to try to direct her affairs, 
as the United States had. It was feared that Eng- 
land might try to get control of Texas. The people 
of the South were alarmed, as England was opposed 
to slavery and might cause it to be abolished there. 
Schemes that had already been made to make Texas 
a part of the United States were kept up. 

145. Election of Polk. 

In 1844, James K. Polk of Tennessee, Democrat, 
was elected President. The chief question then was 



200 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



whether Texas should be annexed to the United 
States. Texas was annexed and made a State in 1845. 





J 






i»"i 






^ 


1 












1 


h 



■TAMES K. POLK. 



Now, Mexico had never admitted that Texas was 
an independent repiibhc, and, as a nation, felt that 
the United States had acted very unfairly in causing 



GROWTH OF THE NATION 207 

Texas to secede, and in afterward taking it in, as a 
part of the United States. The Mexicans said that 
the United States, although a repubhc, was as bad 
as the robber kingdoms of Europe were. 

It was the people of the Southern States, rather 
than those of the North, that had brought about the 
secession and annexation of Texas. Slavery needed 
more room in which to spread, and the far-seeing 
statesmen of the South thought that they could make 
of Texas several slave States. In this plan, they 
failed, for the people of Texas refused to have their 
great republic cut up into small States. Texas came 
into the Union as one State only. That State is 
larger than any nation of Europe except Russia. 
That part of the original territory of Florida, pur- 
chased during President Monroe's term, was made 
a State during the same year that Texas came into 
the Union (1845). Both Texas and Florida were 
slave States. Soon after, Iowa and Michigan came 
in as free States, and thus there were still as many 
free States in the Union, as slave States. Texas was 
the last slave State that came into the Union. From 
that time on, freedom gained over slavery. 

146. The Oregon Country. 

During Polk's term, there was a strong desire that 
the northwestern boundary of the country should be 
defined. It had not yet been settled where the line 
between the Oregon Country and the British part of 



208 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Xurth America ran. The land lliat lay between 
latitude 46° north and 54° 40' north was claimed 
by both England and the United States. 

There was an agreement of long standing that 
the people of both nations might live there. This 
agreement was to end after one year's notice given 
by either party to the other. By 1845, there were 
more than seven thousand Americans in this region, 
and notice was given })y the United States that the 
agreement was to end in 1846. A settlement was 
made by which the parallel of 49° north latitude was 
to become the boundary line. 

Jefferson, in his day, thought that the Alleghany 
Mountains would always be the western ])ovuKlary 
of the United States. Afterward, it was thought that 
the Rocky Mountains would be our western limit. 
Now, it was settled that oiu- country extended to the 
Pacific, and later still, in our own time, we have 
teri'itory on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. 

When the territory of Oregon was given a teri-i- 
torial government, in 1848, the slavery party tried 
to have it declared open to slavery. Bui Congress 
declared that there should never be slavery williin 
the limits of the new territory. 

147. The New Tariff. 

TheDemocratic party, for slavery, for States Rights, 
for low tariff, was in powei', and in 1846 the tariff 
was changed. It was no longei- a protective tarifl", 



GROWTH OK 'J'lll'; NATION 209 

l)ul oiu' for revenue only. That is, llie taxes on 
imported goods were laid for no other purpose than 
to get money for carrying on the Government. The 
industries of the country were left to take care of 
themselves. .Now, if the owner of a factory could 
not sell his goods here as cheaply as the owner of a 
factory in England or Germany could, he had to go 
out of business. This tariff remained in force as 
long as the Democratic party remained in power. 
While it was in force, there were few factories run- 
ning in America, for most of the manufactured goods 
used in this country came from England. 

SUMMARY. 

1. A new President, James Monroe. 

2. Purchase of Florida. 

3. Disputes over slavery. 

4. The Missouri Compromise. 

5. Inimif:;ration increases. 

6. The Holy Alliance. 

7. The Monroe Doctrine. 
S. Protective tariff. 

9. Growth of manufacturing' and invention. 

10. John Quincy Adams, President. 

11. Nullification in South Carolina. 

12. Completion of the Erie Canal. 
lo. First railroads. 

14. President Andrew Jackson. 

15. The Spoils System. 

16. Difference on the States Rights question becomes dan- 

iierous. 



210 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

17. Martin Van Buren, of New York, becomes President. 

18. Panic of 1837. 

19. President Harii.son. 

20. The public lands. 

21. The telegraph. 

22. Texas. 

23. President James K. Polk. 

24. Fixing the national boiuidaries. 

25. New tariff law. 

QUESTIONS FOP REVIEW. 

1 . What territory did the Nation gain under President Monroe? 

2. What was the Missouri Conipromise? The Holy Alliance? 

The Monroe Doctrine? 

3. What was the South Carolina Nullification Doctrine? 

4. What great public work was completed in New York State 

in 1S25? When and where were the first railroads built? 

5. What was the Spoils System? 

6. Name a great invention made dui-ing President Tyler's 

admiiustration. 

7. What Mexican territory l)ecame a republic? When did 

this republic become a State? Why did the statesmen 
of the South want several States madefrom thisterritory? 

8. When was tlic northern boundary of the United States 

fixed? 



Chapter VI. 

TROUBLE WITH MEXICO. 

148. The Mexican War and the Slavery Question. 

After Texas was made a State of the Union, the 
United States, controlled by the South, made a 
claim that the western boundary of the State was 
the Rio Grande River. Mexico said that the claim 
was wrong. Mexico declared that it was the State 
oj Texas, one of the states of Mexico, that had 
seceded, and that the State of Texas never extended 
west to the Rio Grande. "The land you claim," 
said Mexico, " was not a part of Texas. You have 
rob]:)ed us of Texas ; do not try now to rob a sister 
republic of any more of its land." 

Little attention was given by the United States to 
the complaints of Mexico. President Polk ordered 
General Taylor to march troops to the land in dis- 
pute. Taylor obeyed. This was an invasion of 
Mexico, an act of war. A strong nation was taking 
by force the land of a weak neighbor nation. 

Mexico resisted the invaders. There were some 
slight clashes of small bodies of troops. A small 
Mexican force defeated a small American force, kill- 
ing a few men . 

Now the President, who had long been getting 

ready for a war and who was waiting for an excuse 

211 



212 SHORT A.MI;HK'A.\ JIIS'J'OKY 

to iH'gin it, sent a message to Congress. He said 
that Mexico had shed the blood of Americans ; and 
Congress declared war against Mexico. 

There was a great difference of opinion in the 
United States concerning the war. It might result 
in gaining more slave territory. The South fav^ored 
it. The people of the North were generally opposed 
to it. 

Mexico fought l:>ravely and did all she could to 
oppose the invaders, but she was overmatched. 
General Taylor, with his stronger arm}", better pre- 
pared for fighting, was too powerful for the home- 
defenders of ^Mexico, and he won ever}" l^attle. After 
the Battle of Buena Vista, he came home with glory 
enough to gain for himself the Presidency at the next 
election. 

While Taylor had been active in ^lexico with one 
army. General Winfield Scott had been ]:)usy with 
another, and he too was a victor in every battle. 
The Americans finally captured the City of Mexico, 
the capital, in the fall of 1847, and the Avar was 
ended. For the second time, jMexico had been con- 
quered by invaders, to whom she had done no harm. 

By the treaty of peace, 1848, Mexico yielded the 
strip of land first claimed ; and, partly by conquest 
and^ partly by purchase, then and later, the United 
States gained a great country north and west of 
Texas, extending westward to the Pacifie Ocean and 
northward to the Oregon Country. The country thus 



STKUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 



213 



gained, and some bought later, is now included in 
California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and parts of New 
Mexico, ('Olorado and Wyoming. 




GENERAL SCOTT. 



149. The Wilmot Proviso. 

All the territory that came to the United States 
from Mexico came as free territory, for Mexico had 



214 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

made it so by law. The question now was, whether 
it should remain free. As early as 1846, when it 
seemed that much territory would come from Mexico, 
a member of Congress from Pennsylvania, named 
Wilmot, proposed a law. It was that the Ordinance 
of 1787, that made the Northwest Territory free, 
should apply to any territory, that might come 
from Mexico. This bill was called "The Wilmot 
Proviso." 

The Wilmot Proviso was opposed by the slavery- 
party, and it failed to become a law. The South 
meant that new States made from that territory 
should be slave States. Nearly all the people of the 
North were strongly in favor of barring slavery from 
any and all new States that might be admitted. The 
people of the South, on the other hand, said that 
slaver}^ should be extended. Talk about the matter 
divided the people into two parties; — one for slavery 
in the territories, and the other against it. The ques- 
tion was now a political one. 

150. Election of General Taylor. 

In the election of 1848, General Zachary Taylor 
was elected. He was a Democrat ; he was for slavery 

151. Admission of California. 

Of the thirty States, fifteen were in favor of keeping 
slavery from spreading, and fifteen were for letting 
it spread into the territories; to remain there when the 
territories should become States. California wanted 



STRUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 



215 



to come into the Union. All said, " Let her come in. " 
The question was, whether she should be a slave State 




PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 



or a free State. California would turn the scales for 
or against slavery. The South wanted slavery; the 
South was in power. The women of the North 



216 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

prayed that some Power, greater than that of man, 
would give the coming Queen State of the great 
Pacific to human freedom. Their prayers were heard. 
There were but few people in that part of California 
which was to become a State; and a vote taken by 
them would have been for slavery. There was 
nothing known that would call to California such 
immigrants as had l)een the making of the new 
Northern States ; nothing to attract a freedom-loving 
people. It appeared that slavery was to win. 

Discovery of Gold. 

Not very far from that famous San Francisco Bay, 
into which Drake and other rovers sailed, hundreds 
of years before, Mr. Sutter had built a mill. His 
hired men were digging a ditch in the gravelly soil. 
One of them saw a little lump of something of a dull 
reddish-yellow color. He picked it up; it was heavy. 
He pounded it; it was soft. They gathered around 
him and tested it. It was gold. 

More gold was found. It was found in other places. 
The word went forth to the world: — "Cold is nbuu- 
dant in California.'' Men flocked to California from 
all parts of the world, but mainly from the Northern 
States. California was to bo a free State. By 1849, 
there were a himdred thousand men, mostly from the 
free States, in that part of California that was to be a 
State. The Calif ornians wrote a constitution for a 
State, which shut out slavery; and asked for admis- 



STRUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 217 

sion to the Union as the State of CaUfornia. There 
were many debates in Congress as to whether CaH- 
fornia should be admitted as a free State, or not. 
Finally, by the Compromise of 1850, it was settled, 
among other things, that California should come 
into the Union as a free State. It was also settled 
that the question of slavery in other parts of the 
territory acquired from Mexico should be left to the 
people who might be living there when the territory 
was made into States. 

152. Threats of Secession. 

Now some of the people of the South began to talk 
of taking their States out of the Union. Answering 
them, some of the people of the North said that it 
would be better for free States to be out of the Union 
than to continue in the Union with States disgraced 
])y the wickedness of slavery. There were foolish 
people, in both parts of the country, who babbled of 
secession, whenever they could not have their own 
way. 

153. The Seventh Census. 

Every year whose number ends with a naught is a 
census year. The count, in 1850, showed that we had 
more than twentj^-three millions of people. 

Harvesting machines had been used then for ten 
years. In 1841, the first steam fire-engine was louilt 
and used, in New York. Matches were being made 
b}^ machinery. The first wire-rope was made. The 



218 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

first silk clotli in America was made, at Paterson, 
N. J., where they are still making it. Men began to 
dig copper on the shores of Lake Michigan, where it is 
still mined. Petroleum was found in Pennsylvania, 
though Ixit little use was made of it for many years. 

In 1846, Elias Howe invented a machine which 
would sew cloth. It was thought to be a wonderful 
invention, and it was. Every garment worn in the 
civilized parts of the world is cheaper to its wearer 
because of Howe's invention. Telegraph hues were 
getting common. In Massachusetts began the mak- 
ing of watches by machinery. American-made hard- 
ware was now on the market, and people had their 
choice between that and the hardware made in 
England and Germany. 

In 1850, there were great debates in Congress. 
The ablest statesmen of the North met the ablest 
statesmen of the South. Speeches that still stand as 
models of oratory on the great question of the day, 
slavery, were made on both sides. Old statesmen 
passed away and new ones came. Calhoun, the 
great champion of the South, died and to take his 
place as leader for the rights of the States, came 
Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. President Taylor 
died, in July, 1850, and thus Millard Fillmore, the 
Vice-President, became President. 

During the great debates, Cahfornia became a 
State ; and now the free States had the lead, never to 
lose it. 



STRlKJdLE OVER SLAVERY 



219 



154. Slave Law. 

Two important laws were passed in 1850. One 
was, that in the rest of the territory gained from 




MILLARD FILLMORE. 



Mexico, the question of slavery should be decided by 
the people living there, when new States were ad- 



220 SHORT AMERICAX IITSTORY 

mitted. The other was, that the State government 
of any State, even a free State, should arrest and 
return any run-away slaves, that might be found 
within its bounds. Many of the people of the North, 
pitying poor black wTetches escaping from slavery, 
had been in the ha])it of aiding them as they fled 
through Northern States to Canada. Canada, as 
English soil, was a land of freedom. It was the 
proud boast of England, at that time and since, 
that no slave could live on English soil; for the 
minute he set foot upon it he became free, and nil of 
England's power stood by, to keep him free. 

The slavery-haters of the North, despised the 
Fugitive Slave Law\ So general was the feeling 
against it then, that but few^ black fugitives were 
caught and sent back into slaver}'. 

Slavery was losing ground. It was likely that 
other States coming into the Union, as California did, 
would come in free, as that State did. Those who 
were for slavery were getting desperate. 

155. Immigration. 

There had been a great famine in Ireland. Irish 
people came by tens of thousands from that land of 
want, to this land of plenty. Others came from 
other parts of Europe. Population was growing very 
fast. The northwestern part of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase was filling with people. Few of the new- 
comers w^ent to the Southern States. Population 



STRUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 221 

in the South did not grow. It became less; for thou- 
sands left the South to go to the North and West. 
The industry of cotton-growing was about all there 
was in the South to yield wealth and comfort; and 
only slave owners coidd profit by it. The slave- 
owners were about one-seventh of the people there- 
The other six-sevenths could hardly prosper. There 
was nothing there to attract free men and their 
families coming from Europe. The slavery-hating 
North grew in numbers and power; the slavery-loving 
South stood still. As slavery had been destroyed 
in all other civilized nations, it was to be destroyed 
in our own. 

156. Steam. 

By 1852, the use of steam for power was growing 
general. There were ten thousand miles of railroad, 
and hundreds of steamboats were busy on the rivers 
and lakes. There were many great steamships run- 
ning from our harbors to those of Europe. Business 
felt the effects of steam and electricity. 

157. A President from the North. 

In 1852, the Democrats elected, as President, a 
Northern man, Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire. 
He was opposed by the Whigs, in what proved to be 
their last contest. Political lines were changing. 
A new party was coming ; to be the great opponent of 
the Democratic party. Two great Whig leaders, 



222 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, passed away while 
the contest for the Presidency was going on. 




FRANKLIN PIERCE. 

158. Cuba. 

The North and the West were gaining on the stag- 
nant South. They had more States, more people, 
more wealth, more schools, more factories, more 



STRUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 223 

roads, more canals, more shipping, greater crops, 
more of everything that goes to make a great and 
happy country. Every day the power of the North 
in the Nation grew. The North was now furnishing 
the Presidents. 

Slavery could not spread in the North; the Southern 
people cast about to see how it could be increased in 
the South. '^ There must be some more slave States," 
they said; but from what were they to be made? 

Several slave States could be made from Cuba, if 
it could be made part of the United States. Texas 
had been taken from Mexico for slavery; why could 
not Cuba be taken from Spain? Such thoughts ran in 
the minds of the people of the South; and the South 
controlled the Government, as it did when a quarrel 
was picked with Mexico, so that Mexican territor}^ 
could be seized. Schemes were put on foot in the 
South to have a rising in Cuba against Spain. This, 
it was hoped, might lead to the United States taking 
such action as would bring on a war with Spain. It 
was believed that such a war would give us Cuba, 
and that island, once gained, could be made to give 
slavery new power. 

Parties were sent from Southern ports to help 
others in Cuba to start a civil war; but they failed, 
and the Cul^an leaders were shot, by order of the 
Spanish government. 

There was a great area, a part of the Louisiana 
Purchase, lying on both sides of the Platte River, 



224 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

cnlkMl tho Platte Teri'itory. It was north of the hiio 
estabhshed by the Missouri Compromise, and was 
therefore safe for freedom, when it should be made 
into States. At least, the people of the North 
thought so. 

159. The Kansas-Nebraska Act. 

But, in 1854, a law was passed by Congress, con- 
trolled by the friends of slavery, which divided the 
Platte Territory into tw^o organized territories, called 
Kansas and Nebraska This bill repealed the Mis- 
souri Compromise, and threw all the territory of 
the United States not already admitted as States, 
open to slaver3\ It left the people living in such 
territory free to decide for themselves, when the}- 
asked for statehood, whether they would have slavery 
or not. 

The passage of this part of the Kansas-Nebraska 
Act, was considered by most of the people of the North, 
those who were opposed to slavery, as a l)reach of 
faith, on the part of the Democratic party, the party 
controlled l)y the South. They were angry. Some 
Democrats w^ere angr} \ Some Democratic members 
of Congress declared that their party had violated a 
sacred pledge. The repeal was a plot, said thousands 
of clergymen, to put the blight of slavery on one of the 
fairest parts of God'searth, so that settlers from Europe 
and the North would shun it. Many Democrats, 
feeling themselves dishonored l)y the course of their 



STRUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 225 

party, left it. The Whig party became the Repubh- 
can party and many Democrats joined it. From this 
time on, there were two wings to the Democratic 
})arty. It was a most desperate move on the part 
of the friends of slaver}^; one that led to others more 
desperate still; one that led, at last, to their ruin. 

i6o. Kansas. 

The next State that was to join the Union was 
Kansas; ''the garden spot of the world." The people 
living there, when statehood should be asked for, were 
to settle for themselves the question of slavery. There 
^vas no gold in Kansas to tempt the wealth-seekers of 
the world, but there was land worth more than gold. 
The South began to send settlers to Kansas, so that 
men in favor of slavery might at the proper time 
out-vote the men who wanted it to be a free State. 
The North began sending men there to out-vote the 
slavery men. There was a race between the North 
and the South, to see which could get the more men 
into the new territory. 

As the day drew near for the settlement of the 
question by vote, there were murders and fighting in 
Kansas. When election day came, large numbers of 
slavery men came in from JMissouri and Arkansas, and 
cast votes for slavery; then they went back home. 
Their votes made it appear that slavery had won, and 
that when admitted, Kansas was to be a slave State. 
The friends of freedom would not yield, however, and, 



226 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

at last, after years of violence and murder, slavery 
was overcome both in Kansas and in Congress. Kan- 
sas at length became a State of the Union, free from 
slavery. The Kansas contest made the Republican 
party stronger, and ver}^ greatly weakened the Demo- 
cratic party. Thousands of Northern Democrats 
became Republicans, and thousands more declared 
that the party should no longer be led by the slavery 
wing. * 

i6i. Japan. 

The Kansas excitement did not prevent the National 
Government from attending to other things. Japan 
had always held aloof from all other nations. Its' 
people would trade with no other people. In those 
days any article made in Japan was a great curiosity, 
so few of such ever got out of that covmtry. Our 
people wanted to trade with Japan; and in 1854, 
Commodore Perr}^ son of the hero of Lake Erie, was 
sent to Japan with a fleet to pay a friendly visit. 
A treaty of commerce was made, and from that day, 
Japan, copying American ideas and methods, has 
advanced, until it is now the foremost nation of Asia. 

162. Election of Buchanan. 

In the election of 1856, the new Republican party 
opposed the Democratic party and was defeated. 
James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, Democrat, was 
elected. The new party showed great strength. 
The power of the North began to appear. 



STRUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 



227 



163. The Dred Scott Case. 

The United States Supreme Court is a very impor- 
tant part of the National Government. In eases of 




JAMES BUCHANAN. 



dispute it declares the law; and its decisions, unless 
set aside by itself, must stand. The Democrats con- 



228 SHORT A.MKHK^AN HLSTORY 

trolled the Government, and the South, as yet, con- 
trolled most of the Democrats. The Judges of the 
Supreme Court were Democrats; all but two of them 
were Southern men. 

For some time a case had Ijeen pending in tlie Su- 
preme Court, concerning a shive named Dred Scott. 
Very soon after Buchanan became President, the 
Court decided the case, and in doing so laid down 
some new points of law. One of these was that a 
slave could neither sue in the courts, nor he sued. 
Another was, that a slave was the property of his 
owner, and that the owner could take him anywhere 
in the United States, and keep him as a slave. Yet 
another was, that the Missouri Compromise Law never 
had any force, even before it was repealed. Of the 
nine Justices of the Court, the seven from the South 
made the decision; the two from the North would 
not agree to it. 

The Dred Scott decision seemed to put an end to 
the slavery question by making slavery lawful every- 
where. The enemies of slavery were shocked. The' 
friends of slavery declared that now all States and Ter- 
ritories were open to slavery, and that, by the deci- 
sion of the highest court, they had won everything. 

The Supreme Court had spoken. There w^as noth- 
ing for the enemies of slavery to say, but this : " The 
Court has the power to make a decision. That deci- 
sion stands until the same Court reverses it. We will 
not give up the figlit against the spread of slavery." 



STRUGGLE OVPJR SLAVERY 229 

164. Abraham Lincoln. 

Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat, Senator from Illi- 
nois, was the leader of such Democrats as believed 




STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 



that the Union could not be broken. He was the 
author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act that repealed the 



230 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

JMissouri Compromise. In 1858, he sought a second 
election to the Senate. Also seeking the office, was a 
man of the people, a Republican, named Abraham 
Lincoln. The two men met each other in debate, at 
various places, in Illinois. They discussed whether 
the people of a territory should decide for themselves 
the question of slavery. Douglas wanted to l)e the 
next President, elected by Democrats, and felt sure 
that he would be their candidate. In the debate 
Lincoln put some questions to him. If he answered 
in one way, he would make friends of the Southern 
disunion Democrats, but enemies of the Northern 
union-loving ones, and would lose the senatorship. If 
he answered the other way, he made enemies of the 
Southern and friends of the Northern Democrats, 
and would be elected to the Senate. He favored the 
Northern Democrats in his answer, and was elected to 
the Senate. Lincoln was beaten, Init Douglas had 
made enemies of the Democrats of the slave States, 
so that they would never vote for him, for President. 
The wonderful skill and statesmanship shown ])y 
Lincoln in the debates made him known to the Re- 
publicans everywhere; and many l)egan to say that 
he should be their candidate for President in the 
election of 1860. 

165. John Brown. 

The people of the South were always in more or 
less fear of a rising of the slaves to fight for freedom. 



STRUGGLE 0\'ER 8LA\'ERY 231 

There were a few people in the North, whose hatred of 
slavery carried them so far beyond bounds that they 
favored the idea of slave-risings in the South. Of 
these few, was John Brown. 

Brown was first a farmer in New York State. 
Then he went with his sons to Kansas, to help make 
that a free State. In Kansas, he and his sons 
fought those from the South who tiied to carry the 
territory for slavery by force. It is thought that he 
became somewhat crazy through brooding over 
slavery, and through his struggles against it. 

Brown had an idea that, if he could stir up the 
slaves of Virginia to fight their masters, the Southern 
people would ])e so horrified at the thought of further 
risings that they would be willing to do away with 
slavery. The old man, with a small party, went to 
Harper's Ferry, in the fall of 1859, and tried to start 
an uprising of slaves. He failed ; and was soon after- 
wards, tried for murder and hanged. Brown's 
wicked and foolish act made the people of the South 
furiously angry. Many of them believed that this 
was only the first of many such attempts, and that a 
large part of the people of the North, especially the 
Republicans, believed that such deeds were right. 
The South began to hate the North, and there was 
much talk that, unless the South could control the 
Government as it had been doing, it would break away 
from the Union and make a nation for itself. Now 
came a time of misunderstanding and bitterness 



232 SHORT AMERlCAxN HISTORY 

between the two parts of th(^ country. Each part 
angrily and unjustly accused the other. But Abra- 
ham Lincoln and the Republicans generally con- 
demned Brown's act. 

1 66. Admission of New States. 

During Buchanan's term Minnesota, Oregon, and 
Kansas became States of the Union, without slavery. 
Even with the Dred Scott decision to help slavery, 
it could spread no farther. It must sta}' where it 
was, and if so confined, it must die. The States now 
stood nineteen to fifteen , against the spread of slavery. 

167. The Eighth Census. 

1860 was census year. There were then thirty- 
one and a half millions of people in the United States. 
In 1851, a steamer crossing the Atlantic made the 
passage in less than ten days. It could hardly be 
believed. By 1853, a man might start at New York 
and ride by rail to Chicago. He might start at 
Bangor, Me., and go by rail to New Orleans. Ameri- 
cans began to buy American-made watches, because 
they were better than those made in Europe. There 
was a l)ridge built across the ^lississippi from Rock 
Island, 111., to Davenport, in Iowa. 

In 1857, a great panic swept the country; many 
banks failed, and much business was destroyed. A 
great improvement in the way of pegging shoes by 
machinery came into use, and the shoe-making busi- 



STRUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 233 

ness of Massachusetts began. Imports were now 
nine times as great in the States of the North as in 
those of the South. 

By 1859, the shipment of iron-ore from the Lake 
Superior region, down the Great Lakes, was going on. 
It now amounts to many milHons of tons a year. The 
time from New York to Chicago by rail was thirty- 
eight hours. It is now eighteen. Silver was dis- 
covered in the Rocky Mountains. Petroleum was 
found, in Pennsylvania, by drilling wells. Thus began 
the great petroleum industry. 

i68. The Election of Abraham Lincoln. 

The Democratic Convention, to name a man for 
the Presidency, met at Charleston, S. C. For the first 
time in a National Democratic Convention, the South- 
ern States-rights, disunion Democrats found that 
they were not in control. Northern Democrats no 
longer did their bidding. 

The North, in the convention, wanted Douglas for 
President. The South would not have him. The 
South broke away and nominated Breckenridge of 
Kentucky. The Northern Democrats, in convention, 
nominated Douglas. The party was now split in two, 
and neither wing could win in the coming election. 
The Republicans were sure to elect their man. The 
next President would be an enemy to the spread of 
slavery. As old members of the National Supreme 
Court dropped out, by death or otherwise, enemies 



284 SHORT AMP:RI0AN HISTORY 

of skivery would fill llicir places. In liiiic, the court 
« might reverse the Dred Scott decision. 

It is likely that had the Democrats named Douglas 
at first, and all voted for him in the election, he would 
have been elected. But the Sout^i was now^ at the 
"rule or ruin" point. It said, "If a Republican is 
elected, we will break up the Union." 

The Repu])lican Convention was held at Chicago. 
Abraham Lincoln was named, and in the election 
following, he was elected. The Kepublican party, 
enemy to the spread of slavery, w^as to rule the Nation. 

169. Secession. 

Lincoln w^as elected in November, he was to take 
the office in March. Until then, Buchanan remained 
in office. He was a weak man, a Northern Democrat, 
elected by Southern votes, and fearful of offending 
the South. Southern Government officers, even those 
in the Cabinet, at once ])egan measures of disunion, 
and plotted treason. 

• The people of the Soutli firmly l)elieved that they 
had the right to take their States out of the Union. 
They had Ijcen so taught l)y their statesmen. The 
people of the North as firmly Ix lieved that no State 
had a right to leave the Union, and that secession was 
treason. They had been so taught l)y their states- 
men. -It has been said that no man is so dangerous, 
as a good man who is wrong, Imt honestly believes 
he is right. The people of the South were good men 



STRUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 



235 



who were wrong but believed the}^ were right. Like 
good men, they were ready to fight and wilHng to 
die, for the right as they understood it. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



South Carohna took the lead, as she had done 
before, whenever there liad been talk of disunion. 
Without waiting to see what the Nation would do 



236 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

under its new President, South Carolina declared, 
in convention, while yet Buchanan was President, 
that she was out of the Union and was an independ- 
ent nation. Her people thought they were out of 
the Union; they spoke of the United States as a 
foreign country. But they were not out, as future 
events were to show. 

170. Confederate States of America. 

While Buchanan was yet President the people of 
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, (iSeorgia, Louisiana, 
and Texas took action, tluit they thought took their 
States out of the Union. B}^ the time Lincoln 
became President, the seceding States had formed a 
new Union of their own, which they called the Con- 
federate States of America, and, as they thought, had 
set up as a nation. They made Jefferson Davis, 
President, him who, since the death of Calhoun, had 
]:)een the great leader of the slavery wing of the 
Democratic party. They declared that the new 
Nation was founded on slavery. 

The people of the South thought that they were 
acting toward the Nation, much as the colonies had 
acted toward England, when they broke away and 
formed a nation. They were rebels in the sam.e sense 
that the colonists were. The term rebel, is not always 
one of reproach. Men may rebel in a just cause. 
Some of the best men who have ever lived have beer 
rebels. The South was in rebelUon. 



STRUGGLE OVER SLAVERY 287 

Whenever a State seceded, the rebels in that State 
at once seized all the forts, arsenals, ships, money, 
and all else that they could find that belonged to 




JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

the general government. And there were many 
such things at hand to seize, for Buchanan's officers, 
with rebellion in mind, had been busy for months 



238 SHORT AMERICAN HISTOKV 

sending such things south. After the States had 
seceded, it was found that a large part of the war 
supplies of the whole Nation was in the hands of the 
rel^els. 

SUMMARY. 

1. Disputes about the southwest boundary Yme between 

Texas and Mexico are made the pretext for a war witii 
Mexico. 

2. Two leading American fj;enei-als of the IMexican War were 

Winfield Scott, and Zachary Taylor. The hitter became 
President . 
li. Tlie Nation liains a vast territory- from Mexico as a result of 
the war. 

4. Wihiiot Proviso. 

5. Cahfornia becomes a free State. 
(). Threats of secession. 

7. The Fu<>itive Shive Law. 

S. President Pierce. 

i). Unhiwful interference with affairs in rul)a. 

10. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals the Missouri Compi-o- 

mise. Kansas admitted as a free State. 

1 1. .Japan. 

12. President Buchanan. 
\:\. Th(> Dred Scott Case. 

14. The Lincoln-Douiilas debates. 

b'). .John lirown's Rai(L 

1(). Pi-esident Abraham Lincoln. 

17. Secession, Confedei'alc States of .\inerica. 

QUESTIONS FOR RI<:VIEW. 

1. What led to the Mexican War? 

2. What territory did we gain as a result of this war? 



8TKUGGLE OXKli SLAVERY 239 

3. What was the Wihnot Proviso? 

4. What was the Fugitive Slave Law? 

5. How Was it regarded by the people of the North? 

6. Why was it desired by the people of the South that Cuba 

should become a part of the United States? 

7. What was the Kansas-Nel)raska Act? To what events did 

it lead in Kansas? 

8. Who went to Japan to open trade with the United States? 

With what success? 

10. What was the effect of the Dred Scott decision? 

1 1 . What citizen of Illinois began to oppose the extension of 

slavery? 
1 2. Wliat did John Brown attempt to do? 
13. Which was the first State to secede? How many States 

seceded from the Union? What did they call themselves? 



Chapter VII . 
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 

171. Fort Sumter. 

For the defense of Charleston, S. C, the Nation 
had, years before, built a fort. It stood upon an 
island which had been built by the Government in 
the harl^or. This was Fort Sumter, named after a 
Revolutionary hero of the State. x\t the time of 
the secession of South Carolina, a time of peace, the 
forts of Charleston harbor were manned b}- only a 
few United States soldiers. As soon as little South 
Carolina seceded, and set up for a nation, it demanded 
that the United States give up these forts, including 
Fort Sumter. 

When an unarmed vessel, sent ])y the Goveriunent 
witli food for the soldiers in 1^'ort Sumter, drew near 
tlie island, she was fired upon by the batteries on the 
shore. Thus the State had not only set up for a 
foreign nation, but had begun a war on the United 
States. Mv. Buchanan, the President, weakly failed 
to respond to this act of war upon his (,*ountry. 

172. President Lincoln. 

Abraham Lincoln, avoiding those who lay in wait 
to slay him, at Baltimore, reached Washington and 

240 



THE GREAT REBELLION 241 

became President. In his address, lie said that he 
had no right to interfere with slavery where it was, 
directly or indirectly, and that he had no purpose to 
do so. He said that no State could of itself get out 
of the Union. He said he would use the power placed 
in him as President "to hold, occupy, and possess 
the property and places belonging to the Govern- 
ment." He told those present who were known to be 
in favor of secession, that the Government would not 
assail the South; that there could be no conflict 
unless it was forced on the Government. 

There were many in the North who thought it 
would be wise to let the seceding States go, without 
trying to hold them in the Union by force. "The}^ 
are ready to fight,'' said some Northern men, good 
Repubhcans. " Let them go, for the sake of peace." 
''But," said others, "if they go, there can be no 
peace. Between the two nations wdll rise questions 
of boundaries, of the navigation of rivers like the 
Mississippi. There will be quarrels about fugitive 
slaves, about tariffs, and many other things. The 
two nations could not long stay at peace. One would 
have to conquer the other. If there must be war, 
let it come now, when the world knows the Nation is 
in the right." Said others, "Two weak nations can- 
not exist in America. Foreign powers would attack 
and conquer one, when they would not dare make 
war on the two, in one. In union, there is strength; 
in disunion, there is ruin." 



242 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

As soon as the President's order to feed the soldiers 
was made known, the President of the C'onfederate 
States demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter and, 
on Major Anderson's refusal, the shore batteries 
began firing on the fort. Within two days the weak 
garrison was overcome, and the American flag was 
hauled down in surrender. The so-cidled new nation 
had made war on the United States, had invaded its 
soil, had hauled down its flag. 

If the Confederate States were really a separate 
nation, it had wantonly begun a wicked war on a 
neighboring and friendly nation. If they were not 
a separate nation, but just a number of States in 
rebelUon, they had etiually made war. Invasion or 
rebellion, no matter which, wju- must be met by 
war; and war it was. Four years, to a day, from the 
lowering of our national flag at Fort Sumter, the 
same shot-torn emblem of greatness was raised again 
in victory. The rash provokers of war, though they 
had fought as never men fought before, were van- 
quished and ruined, their States were desolated, 
the flower of their youth were laid in early graves, 
and slavery was dead. 

The South had misunderstood the North. "They 
are mere money-makers in the North," said Southern 
orators. "They are not natural fighters there, such 
as we are. As soon as they see that we mean war 
the}^ will let us go. Now that we have taken the fort, 
they wull think twice before t]ic\' dare to fac(^ us in 



THE GREAT REBELLION 243 

the field." They were mistaken. It is one of the 
lessons of history that, through all time, the rugged, 
steady enduring courage of the North overcomes in 
war the fiery valor of the South. 

174. Effect of the Capture of Fort Sumter. 

As the news of the capture of Fort Sumter flashed 
over the countr}^, North and South, patriotism l)roke 
into flame. In the South, the 3^oung men rushed to 
camp. In the North, the President called for seventy- 
five thousand volunteer soldiers, and he took his 
pick from ten times that number. From Maine to 
Texas, men made ready for war. 

More States went through the form of seceding: 
Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina 
declared themselves as out of the old Union and into 
the new. There w^ere now eleven States in rebellion 
against the United States Government. Secession 
could not win the border States of Missouri, Kentucky, 
Maryland and Delaware. Though these were slave 
States they did not leave the Union. 

Richmond, capital of Virginia, became the capital 
of the Confederate States. Jefferson Davis comforted 
his followers by, saying that, in the war, the fight- 
ing would be on Northern soil; and that the South 
would carry the war, "where food for the sword and 
torch await our armies in the densely populated 
cities." He called for volunteers, and proposed that 
privateers be sent out from Southern ports, to prey on 
the ocean commerce of the North. 



244 



SHORT AMiailCAN HISTORY 



173. The South Makes War. 

The North under the insolent threats of the South 
had been brow-beaten so long that it was now hard 
for all of its people* to agree and take firm groinid 
against disunion. ]\Iajor Anderson, commanding Fort 
Sumter was calling for food for his men, and all but 
two of the President's cabinet, voted against sending 




THK SLAVE STATES BEKOK-E THE WAR. 

it. General Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, 
advised that the seceding States be allowed to go 
out of the Union. Then the great President decided 
for himself that the Nation's soldiers, in the Nation's 
fort, should have food. He was peaceable, mild, 
gentle, merciful; but he was also brave. The honor 
of the Nation was safe in his hands. 



THE GREAT REBELLION 245 

175. Condition of the South. 

The South was unfit for war. It takes more than 
men to carry on a war. Those who go to the field to 
fight, must be armed, clothed and fed, by those who 
stay at home. The South could raise cotton, and 
that was about all it could do. It was not a manufac- 
turing country. It had always depended on trading 
cotton for all the things that it needed. It had 
traded with Europe. It meant to trade cotton for 
arms, clothes, and everything that its soldiers needed 
in the field. 

176. The Blockade. 

To get supplies and to send out privateers, the 
South must use its harbors and ports. It must reach 
the open sea. Lincoln saw that the great Rebellion 
would be smothered if the ports of the South were 
closed. So he sent war-ships to block the ports 
against commerce. No vessel could go into or out 
of a Southern port, except by running through the 
fire of the Union war-ships, that kept guard just "out- 
side. This blockade soon brought the South to 
severe want for things needful for the war, or for 
even home comforts. Some vessels got in and some 
got out; but not many. Many were captured; some 
were sunk. More than fifteen hundred were taken 
or sunk during the war. Because it could not be 
gotten out of the country, cotton, the best sea-island 
grade, was as cheap as five cents a pound in Charles- 



246 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

ton, while English manufacturers were offering two 
dollars and a half a pound for it in Liverpool, Eng- 
land. The blockade, begun thus early, was the 
means that finally broke down the Confederacy and 
made its war a failure 

It was not Fort Sumter alone that had been taken. 
All the Nation's property in the South had been 
seized. There was no reason why Fort Sumter alone 
should be recaptured. The war was growing. It 
was covering a great area, so no move was made for 
the time against that fort. The plan of the Nation 
was to surround the Confederacy, great as it was^ and 
press inward on it and crush it. 

177. Preparation. 

Now came a period of getting ready. Troops were 
drilhng — North and South. The people on both sides 
grew restless. "Why do not our sokliers fight the 
rebels?" asked those of the North. "Why do not 
our soldiers whip the Yankees?" asked those of the 
South. "On to Washington!" said one. "On to 
Richmond!" said the other. Both were over-sure; 
both had much to learn. 

178. Bull Run. 

July, IcSGl, came. General McDowell witli a Union 
ami}' was in front of Washington. General Beaure- 
gard with a much smaller Confederate force stood 
guard over Richmo.nd, about thirty miles southwest 



THE GREAT REBELLION 247 

of Washington, near a little stream called Bull Run. 
A small stream, larger than a brook, and less than a 
river, is called a run in the South. From this point 
he could defend Richmond, or strike at Washington. 
McDowell marched against Beauregard and engaged 
his force at Bull Run. General Johnston came to the 
aid of Beauregard with his army, and McDowell, 
badly defeated, fell back on Washington. The 
battle settled nothing beyond the fact that both 
armies were made of good fighters; for valor was a 
quality common to both parts of the great American 
country. 

179. Call for Volunteers. General George B. McClellan. 

President Lincoln at once called for half a million 
volunteers. It was clear now that there was to be a 
great war. 

In the early days of the war. General Scott, who 
had won fame in the Mexican War, was in command 
of the Union armies. But in November, 1861, a 
younger man, fresh from his studies of war in Europe, 
General George B. McClellan, was placed in charge 
of the armies. He, like many others of the soldiers of 
the Union, was a Northern Dem.ocrat. The men of 
the Union Army were Republicans and loyal Demo- 
crats, while those of the Confederate Army, the rebel 
army as it was called in the North, were all Demo- 
crats. The Democrats of the Union Arm}^ were such 
as had voted for Douglas; those of the rebel army 



248 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

were such as had voted for Breckenridge. As soon 
as the war broke out Douglas took a firm stand for 




GENERAL GEORGE B. McCLELLAN. 



the Union, while Breckenridge became a general in 
the Confederate Army. 

It had been the first care of the President to see 



THE GREAT REBELLION 249 

that the slave States, that had not seceded, were 
made safe for the Union. They were soon made 
secure. In each of these States, however, were many 
who favored secession and from each, many men went 
to join the Confederate Army. Missouri, for instance, 
sent men to both armies by thousands. Union con- 
trol of the border slave States was not gained with- 
out much fighting. This was very true of Missouri. 
B}^ the end of 1861, the Confederacy was beset by 
land and sea and was struggling to defend itself. 

1 80. West Virginia. 

Virginia was tricked into seceding by unfair means. 
The people of the State as a whole were Union people, 
but the politicians dragged them into the Confederacy. 
In the mountainous part of the State, the western 
part, slavery was not profitable, the climate and soil 
not being good for such crops as required slave labor. 
There the people would not be Confederates, so they 
receded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the 
Union. West Virginia was made a State by itself 
in 1863. 

181. Mason and Slidell. 

The South coidd not get its cotton out of the coun- 
try to sell it, and thus was crippled for want of means. 
As the colonies had gained the help of France against 
England in the Revolution, so now the Confederate 
States, in their struggle for independence, sought the 



250 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

help not only of France, but of England also. They 
had counted, before the war began, that those nations 
must have cotton. Their orators said, "Cotton is 
King." They thought that France and England 
would want cotton so much that they would be ready 
to fight the United States to get it; and that they 
would send their war-ships to break up the blockade. 
The South sent two of her ablest men to Europe, 
as the colonies had sent Frankhn during the Revolu- 
tion, to get help. 

The men sent were Mason and Slidell. Before 
these statesmen reached Europe, the Enghsh vessel 
on which they sailed, was stopped in mid-ocean by an 
American war-ship. They were taken from the Eng- 
lish ship and held as prisoners. In thus removing 
men from a British steamer, the United States did 
what England had done, before the War of 1812. 

England was as angry now as America had been 
years before. Steps were taken in England toward 
making war on the United States. Mason and Slidell 
were set free, however, with the understanding that, 
thereafter, of neither nation was to search the vessels 
of the other, and the English people became calm. 

182. Forts Donelson and Henry. 

It takes time for a nation like ours to turn from 
the ways of peace, to those of war. But events were 
following each other rapidly. In the northwestern 
part of Tennessee there were two rivers, the Tennessee 



THE GREAT REBELLION 251 

and the Cumberland, which were very important, 
because they were great routes of steamboat traffic. 
The Confederates controlled these rivers by means of 
two strong forts. One, on the Tennessee River, was 
Fort Henry, and the other, on the Cumberland River, 
was Fort Donelson. The Union armies, after some 
severe fighting, drew near to these forts, and took 
them early in 1S62. They were taken by a general 
who was beginning to show his fitness. His name 
was Grant, -U. S. Grant. Much help was given to 
him by the Union gunboats in the rivers, commanded 
by Commodore Foote. With the forts, were taken 
more prisoners than were ever before taken in a 
battle in America. Great stores of war supplies 
which the Confederates nmch needed, for such supplies 
were hard to get, also fell into the hands of our army. 
Losing these forts m.ade the Confederates give up 
Colum])us on the ]\Iississippi, not far away. The 
command of the IMississippi and its branches was as 
important, in this war, as that of the Hudson had ]:>een 
in the war of the Revolution. In gaining these 
two branches the Union Army had won a great vic- 
tory. The whole of the great river was not won yet, 
for, farther to the south, was another strong fort 
known as Island Number Ten. Grant's victories 
caused the Confederates to quit thousands of square 
miles of ground which they had hoped to hold. The 
outside pressure of the Union Armies was forcing 
the Confederacy back within itself. 



252 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

183. Control of the Mississippi. 

To understand the war, we must keep in mind 
that it was the purpose of President Lincohi to keep 
the South from getting materials from the outside. 
The Confederacy was blockaded along the coast, but 




'1 AKLNC 1111: KAMPARTS AT FORT DONELSON. 

there were ways for arms and other war supplies, to 
be brought in by way of Mexico and from the coun- 
try to the west, across the Mississippi River. To shut 
off these supplies, and to shut off cattle from Texas, 
it was needful that the whole Mississippi should be 
held by Union soldiers and Union gunboats. As soon 



THE GREAT REBELLION 253 

as the Mississippi could be gained, the Confederac}^ 
would be cut in two. It would be hard for the Con- 
federates to move their men and supplies, for there 
were but few railroads in that region. Whichever 
party in the war held the Western rivers, had a great 
advantage over the other. Both parties were there- 
fore fighting to hold them. 

184. Battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing. Corinth. 

Next to the rivers, in importance, were the rail- 
roads. To get control of the railroads, was now the 
purpose of General Grant. Up in the northeast part 
of the State of Mississippi was Corinth, where several 
railroads centered. He began to move toward Cor- 
inth. 

The Confederates had good generals. They knew 
what Grant wanted; and they meant to block his 
movement. When Grant started up the Tennessee 
toward Corinth, General A. S. Johnston, one of the 
ablest generals the Confederacy had, started toward 
Grant's army. As Grant halted to rest his men 
and wait for General Buell to join him with his army, 
Johnston, with a greater force, fell upon him with 
furious attack. Every Confederate soldier knew as 
well as his great leader did how much depended on 
victory. Grant's army was driven back, but John- 
ston, in the moment of apparent victory, was killed. 

Now Beauregard took command, he who . had 
whipped the Union Army at Bull Run in the East, — 



254 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

and night came. "We will finish our victoiy in the 
morning" said Beauregard. "Our hardest fighting 
comes to-morrow" said Grant. That night Buell 
came up to help Grant, and in the morning, April 7, 
1862, the fight went on again. By nightfall the 
Union Army was victorious. It was the hardest 
fought battle in the West during the whole war. 

Next day, seeing that after the defeat at Pittsburg 
Landing the fort could not be held, the Confederates 
gave up Island Number Ten. Now, the Mississippi 
was a loyal river as far south as Vicksburg. Beating 
the Southern army at Pittsburg Landing made the 
fall of Corinth sure, and in May it surrendered. 

185. The Duel of the Ironclads. 

In the early days of the war. General Scott took 
measures of defense against the South. He caused 
forts to be built around Washington, and he saw to 
it that Fortress Monroe, in Virginia, was well manned 
with national troops. He should have taken care of 
the great National Arsenal at Harper's Ferry and the 
great Navy Yard at Portsmouth, both in the same 
State. When Virginia seceded, the State govern- 
ment seized the Navy Yard and the Arsenal, but 
not until both had been destroyed as far as could b(^ 
done, by the national officers in charge. 

The amount of plunder that fell into the hands of 
the Virginians at the Navy Yard was very great. 
Several war-vessels were sunk to prevent their cap- 



THE GREAT REBELLION 255 

ture, among which was the steam frigate " Merrimac," 
one of the best vessels of the United States Navy. 
The Confederates afterwards raised the "Merrimac," 
and made her over into a war-vessel of a new kind, 
intending to use her to break the blockade, and to 
destroy Northern cities. Those were the days of 
wooden ships. "We mil have an iron-plated ship," 
said the naval men bf the South, "so strong that 
cannon balls cannot break her sides, and we will give 
her an iron prow with which she can crush any wooden 
ship afloat. No vessel ever built can stand against 
her." 

Forthwith they built to the "Merrimac," sides of 
heavy iron, which sloped upward from the water 
like the roof of a house. No cannon ball could strike 
them squarely; every shot that might hit would 
glance off and be harmless. When the craft was 
done they named her the "Virginia." She was the 
strongest fighting- vessel in the world. She could 
work such havoc in a fleet of wooden war-ships as a 
tiger might work in a flock of sheep. Nothing known 
could stop her from sailing into the harbor of New 
York or Philadelphia, or any other seaboard city, and 
la>dng the town in ashes with her fire-shells. As far 
as could be seen, the Confederacy, through the "Vir- 
ginia," had the United States at its merc}^ 

But the building of the "Virginia" had been no 
secret. The officers of the national navy knew what 
was going on, and knew how grave the danger was. 



256 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

While the South was huilding an iron monster, 
the North was building an iron-sheathed dragon of 
its own, to meet her when she should come forth. 
There was to be a greater duel than the world had 
ever seen. 

i86. The " Monitor." 

The "Monitor," the invention of Captain John 
Ericsson, was a vessel lying so low in the water that 
her flat deck was but two or three feet above the 
water level. She could not be hit })elow water, and 
the slight extent of side, that showed above water, 
was made of timber several feet thick, covered on the 
outside with heavy .iron plates. No cannon ball 
could pierce her sides. Her deck was plated with 
iron. It lay so flat and low that no shot could do 
more than graze it and shde off. Built upon the 
deck, was a great round body like a cheese box, 
made of iron so thick that it could stop the heaviest 
cannon ball known. Within this turret, as it was 
called, were two heav}^ guns. The turret could be 
made to turn, by machinery in the vessel, so that the 
gims might be pointed in any direction. The revolv- 
ing tvn^ret was the idea of a skillful inventor, of New 
York, named Theodore R. Timby, who is still Uving 
in Brooklyn, 1908. 

It was known that the " Virginia" was about ready, 
and that she would make short work of the wooden 
war-ships lying near Fortress Monroe, when she came 



THE flREAT REBELLION 257 

out of her harbor; so the building of the "Monitor" 
was pushed with great haste. At length the little 
craft was finished, and she sailed for Hampton Roads, 
there to wait for the "Virginia" to come forth from 
her lair. But she was too late. 

On March 8, 1862, the "Virginia" came down from 
Norfolk and fought the wooden ships at Hampton 
Roads, (,'annon l)alls struck her sides by dozens 
and rattled off like peas thrown against a stone wall. 
She struck the noble "Cumberland" with her iron 
prow, and cut the vessel half-way through. She set 
the "Congress" on fire and destroyed her. She 
showed her power; nothing could withstand her. 
She could take her time and, at her pleasure, follow 
up her work of ruin. Like a wolf, tired of killing 
for the time, she ceased to destroy, and went back 
to Norfolk to rest, intending to come again next day 
and sink more ships. 

The "Virginia" came down next da}^, but, during 
the night the " Monitor^' had arrived. The two vessels 
met. It was iron against iron, now. The " Virginia" 
limped back to Norfolk, a whipped monster. She 
fought no more. Wonderful as had been the skill 
that had produced her, that skill had been matched 
by the North, and in the fight of the iron clads the 
Northern craft had proved the better vessel. The 
''Monitor" saved the rest of the navy; saved the 
cities; saved the blockade; saved the Union. . A little 
later, when the Union armies marched for Richmond, 



THE GREAT REBELLION 



259 



Norfolk was taken ; but before it fell, the Confederates 
destroyed the "Virginia." 

The fight at Hampton Roads taught the nations of 
the world that wooden war-ships were now useless. 
The day of iron war-ships had come. The fight of the 
two sea-monsters stands as one of the most important 
sea battles in history. 




THE CONFEDERACY AT CLOSE OF 1861. 

187. New Orleans. 

The South still held the lower part of the Mississippi 
River. With that river lost, the Confederacy would 
be a cripple. It was now 1862, the second year of the 
war. Grant, with the armies and the gunboats was 
gaining the river from the north; another force must 
enter at its mouth and work up-stream. In the 
spring a fleet under Commodore Farragut, bearing 



260 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

an army, sailed for New Orleans. That city must 
be taken. The Nation must do what England was 
unable to do, in the war of 1812. 

The Confederates knew what was coming. They 
made skillful plans for defense. They thought that 
they could hold the river and save the city. So they 
could, against any such force, and any such means, as 
had ever been used in war before. But this was a 
war between Americans, and both sides were giving 
lessons in warfare, that made the world wonder. 
After four days of fighting the North prevailed, and 
after another four days New Orleans surrendered. 

The loss of the outlet of the Mississippi Valley 
hurt the Confederacy, not only in America l)ut in 
Europ(\ France and England would now think 
twice before siding with the South, while the South 
was thus losing. When they heard of the terril)le 
disaster that had fallen on the Confederacy, Mason 
and Slidell, begging for help in Europe, were almost in 
despair. 

Now the South had but two strongholds on the 
river. Port Hudson and Vicksburg. Farragut moved 
up the stream with his vessels to attack them, but 
it was necessary for him to wait for the army. They 
could be taken only by the navy and the army fight- 
ing together. 

1 88. The Draft in the South. 

By the spring of 1862, no more volunteers for the 
Confederate armies were to be had. Now the Con- 



THE GREAT REBELLION 261 

federacy made a law which drew into the army all 
men between eighteen and thirty-five years of age. 
By the fall of the same year, all men up to forty-five 
years of age were made to join the army. 

189. The Blockade goes on. 

The Nation was pressing the blockade. There 
were not ships enough to properly watch all the ports 
of the Confederacy. Besides, it was dangerous for 
vessels to lie outside, on the ocean, exposed to the 
terrible storms of the Atlantic with no near harbors 
to run into in case of need. It was thought best to 
capture some of the seaports along the Southern 
coast. These might then l^e used by Union vessels 
as harbors of refuge. The ships blockading them 
might then be sent to watch other ports. So, one 
after another, the seaports were taken. 

190. Privations of the South. 

By this time, every Southern seaport except Savan- 
nah, Charleston, and Wilmington had been taken. 
The South could have no trade with Europe, but such 
as might be made by means of steamers, stealing by 
the watchful Union war-ships, that lay in wait for them 
off these three ports. The blockade bore heavily upon 
the Southern people. Tea and coffee and salt were 
very hard to get. There were but few medicines to 
be had, either for the armies or for the people. The 
soldiers had to find themselves clothing, as best they 



262 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

could; and thousands of them wore captured Union 
uniforms. 

The Southern people gave their carpets to be made 
into blankets for the soldiers. Coarse homespun 
cloth, woven on hand-looms as in colonial times, 
became common ; and so did wooden-soled shoes like 
those worn in Europe by the peasants. Matches were 
scarce. Newspapers were printed on wall-paper, and 
old envelopes were turned inside out and thus used 
again. Meat became very scarce and costly, especially 
after the Union armies and gunboats had taken the 
Mississippi River, so that cattle from Texas could not 
be had. There were bread riots in some of the South- 
ern cities which were put do^\^l b}^ militar}^ force. In 
Richmond, President Davis himself, by threats of 
having the troops fire on it, scattered a mob which 
was demanding l)read. The courage of the Southern 
people during these hard times was marvelous. 

191. The North. 

The North felt no pinch of poverty or famine; 
times were good there. The North was a land of 
plenty. Volunteers had been called for, again and 
again, and they kept coming. Every j^ear brought 
a new host of youths to the proper age for service, 
and these took their places willingh^, to fight for the 
Union. Immigrants kept coming from Europe, and 
many of them entered the Union armies, to fight for 
their adopted country. The Nation had many more 



THE GREAT REBELLION 263 

men in the field than the States in rebelHon, as it 
needed to have. It took more men to surround the 
Confederacy, and drive it back, than it did to defend 
it. 

192. Richmond. McClellan. 

The Nation had done well in the West. What had 
been done in the East? It was time for another 
move against Richmond. The Confederacy stood at 
bay; it must be attacked from all sides, from the 
East as well as from the West. McClellan, with a 
hundred thousand men, went to Fortress Monroe and 
from there set out for Richmond. It was this move- 
ment that made the Confederates abandon Norfolk 
and destroy the '^Virginia." They tried hard to save 
the vessel, but she lay so deep in the water that they 
could not get her to Richmond. 

The Confederate generals were more active than 
McClellan. The last day of May and the first day of 
June, 1862, saw a vigorous attack on his force which 
had marched toward Richmond. This attack ended 
much to the advantage of the Confederates. 

McClellan, cut off from his supplies, now had to 
fight to get away. For seven days the Confederates 
kept after him, but they were checked at last at 
Malvern Hill, July 1, and McClellan's army reached 
the James River, where the gunboats could help keep 
back the foe. From there the army was moved to 
Washington; and thus the second attempt to take 



264 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Richmond ended in failure. McClellan had shown 
that, while weak in attack, he was a genius at defense, 
for his retreat was masterful. But what the Nation 
wanted in the East was a general who could make the 
enemy retreat. 

"Our Western generals have done well," said the 
President. " Let us bring some of them East and 
give them a chance here." So FTalleck, who had 
been in command over Grant in the West, was called 
to Washington to be General-in-Chief. General Pope, 
who had a good record, gained at the taking of Island 
Number Ten, and elsewhere, was put in command of 
the army that was to make the third attempt to 
take Richmond. 

193. Second Battle of Bull Run. 

Pope was as much too rash as McClellan had been 
too cautious. Long before he could get to Richmond, 
the Confederate "Stonewall" Jackson slipped in 
behind him and got his supphes of ammunition and 
food. The two armies came together very near the 
old Bull Run battle-ground, and for the third time, 
the Union Army was defeated, and it fell back to 
Washington. 

194. The Confederate Army Advances. 

Now the Confederate commander, General Robert 
E. Lee, son of Light Horse Llarry Lee who fought so 
well in the Revolution, thought it time for his army 



THE GREAT REBELLION 



265 



to advance. ''Maryland is a slave State. There must 
be many friends of the South there. Perhaps they 




GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 



are ready to join a Confederate Army, if it comes to 
them victorious. If we rush through ^Laryland with 
an army growing stronger every day, and can win, 



266 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

a Northern city or two, we may end the war." So 
said the wdse men of the Confederacy, as Lee set forth 
with sixty thousand men. 

195. Antietam, Fredericksburg. 

McClellan's army was thrown across Lee's front to 
check him, and there was a battle at Antietam, 
Maryland, September 17, 1862. Lee's army was 
defeated in a terrible fight, and fell back. McClellan 
failed to follow and complete his victor}^ and Lee's 
army marched back into Virginia. The President 
now set McClellan aside, and gave the command to 
General Burnside. 

Next began the fourth march on Richmond, and at 
Fredericksljurg, December 13, the -Union Army was 
beaten again, as it seemed fated to be whenever it 
started toward Richmond. 

196. Third Year of the War. 

Eighteen hundred and sixty- three came, with the 
war still on, and but little done in the East toward 
putting down the Rebellion. Richmond must be 
taken; but who was the general that could take it? 
General Hooker was placed in command in Jaiuiary, 
and Burnside went back to his corps. Nothing was 
done now toward attacking Richmond until spring. 

General Hooker determined to make the attempt 
to take Richmond by marching up the Rappahanock 



THE GREAT REBELLION 



267 



River. He had a much larger army than Lee, and 
the two forces met at Chancellorsville, a short dis- 
tance west of the fateful field of Fredericksburg on 
the south bank of the Rappahanock. The national 
forces met with another crushing defeat through a 
masterly attack on their flank by "Stonewall" 
Jackson, who was himself killed in this fight — a severe 
loss to the Confederate forces. 




CONFEDERACY AT END OF 1862. 

197. Copperheads. 

The Union Army was made up of Republicans and 
War Democrats, as they were called, Democrats of 
the Douglas kind, who loved the Union. But there 
were many Democrats of the Southern kind in the 
North, whose hearts were in the Southern cause. 



268 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

They, among the patriots of the North, were Hke the 
Tories of the Revohitioii. Many of them plotted for 
the South. They were sad at news of Union victories, 
and their faces shone with joy when news came of 
Union defeats. They were called Copperheads, as a 
name of disgrace, there being a venomous, snake of 
that name. When Lee made his march into Mary- 
land it was with a strong hope that the ('opperheads 
of the North would help him. They were very 
troublesome to the Union cause, all through the 
war, and after it. 

198. Slavery. 

The Nation went into the war plainly stating that 
the war was to save the Union, and not to destroy 
slavery. ]\Iost of the Democrats of the North who 
had enhsted as soldiers were believers in slavery, 
and did not want it disturbed. All through the 
South, slaves were doing such work as enabled white 
men to serve as soldiers. They built forts; the}^ did 
the work of the camps ; they raised the crops at home 
that fed the Confederate armies; they raised the cot- 
ton that the South meant to trade for arms and other 
war supplies. The Rebellion was kept up very largely 
through what the slaves were made to do. Yet 
nearly all Democrats in the North, from the vilest 
Copperhead at home to the gallant soldier in the 
ranks, said that slavery must not be harmed. 

In 1862, the President asked Congress to propose 



THE GREAT REBELLION 269 

to pay for the slaves and set them free. By act of 
Congress, the slaves in the District of Columbia were 
paid for, and set free. The Republicans in the North 
begged the President to declare all slaves in the rebel- 
lious States free. He replied, saying that his great 
object was to restore the Union, and neither to save 
nor to destroy slavery. He said that he would save 
the Union without freeing any slaves if he could ; that 
if by freeing all the slaves he could save the Union he 
would do that; or, that if hy freeing some, and leaving 
others in bondage, he could save the Union, he would 
do that. 

The Republicans said, " Southern men are in arms 
fighting the Nation. Treat all their property alike, 
slaves and all. Set free the slaves as a blow at the 
Rebellion. When the slaves are free, the Rebellion 
will fall, and the cruel slaughter of good men on both 
sides will cease." 

"But," said the patient and wise President, "if 
we free the slaves we may offend the people of the 
slave States that have not left the Union and may 
thus strengthen the enemy." 

WTiat to do with slavery was a grave question. 
When Lee marched into Maryland, and it seemed 
that, with the help of the Copperheads, he might 
succeed in invading the North; when things looked 
very dark for the Union cause, the President made 
an important decision. He said that, should the 
iuA'ader be cast out from fair Maryland, he woidd 
declare that the slaves in all the rebellious States 



270 8H0RT AMERICAN HISTORY 

were free. Lee was driven back. The President at 
once proclaimed that, if the people in the rebel States 
did not la}' down their arms and become good citizens 
of the Nation, by the first day of the year 1863, he 
would declare that all their slaves should be forever 
free. When the old year went out and the new year 
came in, the South was still in rebellion. 

199. Emancipation. 

On the first day of January, 1863, Lincoln did as he 
had said, and declared that, in all parts of the country 
where there was war against the Union, slavery should 
exist no more. His proclamation was no less a 
blessing to the white people of the South than to the 
black. The world took notice now that the North 
was fighting for humanity, as well as for the Union, 
while the South was battling in behalf of " the great 
crime against civilization." 

200. Results of Emancipation. 

The Nation gained friends in Europe; the South 
lost them. The slaves in the South became restless. 
As fast as they could, they ran away into the Union 
lines. Those that were left did not work as well as 
they had done before. Confederate soldiers now had 
to do much of the work about the camps, and on the 
march, and at the breast-works, that before this time 
had been done by slaves. There were less Confederates 



THE GREAT REBELLION 271 

now on the firing line. In another way emancipa- 
tion helped the Union cause, for by tens of thousands, 
the negroes, North and South, became soldiers in 
the Union Army. While the white soldiers fought 
for the Union, the black men fought for their race, 
and for the Nation that had freed them. They fought 
well. 

201. Confederate War-ships on the Sea. 

It was beyond the power of the South to build 
ocean war-ships. The Confederacy depended on Eng- 
land and France for those. Both of those nations 
took a selfish view of the struggle in America, and 
both were watching for chances to gain by it. France 
was controlled by a nephew of the great Bonaparte. 
He hoped and believed that the Union would be 
broken up, and he did all he could, in a stealthy 
way, to help the South. He had a contempt for the 
Confederacy, but thought to use it as a means to 
further his plan to again plant the French flag in 
America. 

In England two very powerful war-vessels, the 
"Florida" and the "Alabama," were built for the 
Confederacy. These were to be used to destroy 
American merchant ships on the sea. There was a 
profit for the EngUsh in building them, and a great 
profit was to come from their work, for the more 
American ships they burned, the more chance there 
was for English ships to make money. 



272 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



202. England and France. 

It was against the laws of nations, as it was against 
the spirit of fair play, for England to allow these 




QUEEN VICTORIA. 



vessels to be built and to sail from her ports to prey 
upon American ships. 



THE GREAT REBELLION 273 

In the fall of 1862, it became known that English 
statesmen meant to recognize the Confederate States, 
as France had recognized the United States in the 
time of the Revolution. The United States began to 
get ready to fight both England and the South. We 
should have had a war with England, and then 
France would have attacked us, had not Queen 
Victoria, the best ruler England ever had, set her 
face sternly against any movement that might bring 
on a war. 

The ''Alabama" and the "Florida"did great dam- 
age to our commerce, by destroying our merchant 
ships. Both avoided our armed vessels, but, in the 
end, the "Alabama" was sunk by our "Kearsarge" 
and the "Florida" was captured. 

Some strong naval vessels were built for the Con- 
federacy in France; but they never got out of port 
to do any damage to the ships of the United States. 

203. Exchange of Prisoners. 

The South was angrier now with the North than it 
had ever been before. " What ! Put arms in the hands 
of those who have been our slaves, and set them to 
kill their masters in battle! It will go hard with 
any such runaway slaves as may be taken prisoners. 
We will treat them as slaves that have committed 
crime, not as Union soldiers. Anj^ white man that 
we take in battle, who has been commanding negro 
soldiers, will be put to death." 



274 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Up to this time, it had been the custom for either 
party in the war to exchange prisoners taken in 
battle, man for man. Said the South : " We will not 
exchange runaway slaves that we have taken prison- 
ers in Union uniforms, but we Avill hold them as 
slaves." In the course of the war they took, as 
prisoners, both negro soldiers and their white officers. 
But no officers were put to death. 

The South would not give negro prisoners in 
exchange for white prisoners. The North said that 
in the exchange there must be no difference sho\\Ti 
between negro soldiers and w^hite ones, and that, if 
there were, there should be no exchanges. 

For many months, there were no exchanges of 
pi'isoners. There were great prison camps. North and 
South, in which thousands of captive soldiers were 
kept under guard. Soon, another reason appeared 
why the Nation should not exchange prisoners. 
Union prisoners, held in Southern prisons and prison 
pens, were made to suffer from overcrowding and lack 
of proper food and water. Those that did not die 
from exposure and other causes soon became mere 
wrecks of men. They were thus unable to serve as 
soldiers should they be exchanged. To give to the 
Confederacy a w^ell-fed, well-kept, rugged, strong 
soldier, able to take the field and fight at once, in 
exchange for a famished, sick, half -dead Union soldier, 
fit only for the hospital, was only to strengthen the 
enemy. 



THE GREAT REBELLION 275 

204. The Draft. 

Business was never better in the North than it 
was in 1863. The government was paying many 
milHons of dollars every month for war supplies; 
the factories were busy; property seemed to be rising 
in value; wages were high. Men were making money 
so fast that they were not inchned to go into the 
army, and, as had happened in the South long before, 
volunteering became slow. Now the Nation and the 
States began to pay bounties to men who would 
enlist in the army and navy. 

The bounties did not bring recruits fast enough; 
and a draft was made. A draft is the drawing of 
men into the army by lot, whether the}^ want to be 
soldiers or not. A list of all able-bodied men between 
the ages of eighteen and forty-five years was made, 
and from those so enrolled, men were thus drawn. 
It made no difference whether a drafted man's heart 
was for the Union or for the Confederacy; if drafted, 
he must serve as a soldier, or furnish a man in his 
place. 

The draft was carried through, though it was op- 
posed by those who favored the South, and by those 
who tried to escape it. There was very serious danger 
of a civil war in the North. By this time there were 
secret societies in the North made up of men who 
favored the South. Their purpose was to aid the 
South, and they worked to stop enlistments, oppose 
the draft, and break down the credit of the Nation. 



276 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Urged on by the secret agents of the Confederacy, 
and by members of these secret societies, the ignorant 
and vicious part of the people of New York City, 
began rioting against the draft. The mob was guilty 
of much murderous brutaUty, but was at length put 
down by the mihtia, after more than a thousand peo- 
ple had been killed. 

It was desired by the leaders of the Rebellion that the 
war should be carried into the North. The Northern 
friends of the Confederacy reported that the people 
were tired of the war, and that a great victory won 
by the South, in the North, would cause the Nation to 
beg for peace. Then, too, it seemed sure that such a 
victory would cause England and France to come to 
the aid of the Confederacy. " We must take a great 
Northern city, even though in doing so, we lose Rich- 
mond," said the wise men of the South. 

So, Lee swomg his army into Pennsylvania, and the 
hopes of the South ran high. There was now a chance 
coming to plunder "the land of milk and honey," 
and to feed with its abundance the famishing South. 
"Now for Philadelphia or Baltimore," shouted the 
ragged, gaunt, but eager and fearless Confederates, 
as they struck their marching gait and left the South 
behind them. 

205. Gettysburg. 

As soon as the Union commanders could see what 
Lee's plan was, they moved the Union forces to 



THE GREAT REBELLION 277 

break it up. The two armies came together at 
Gettysburg, the Union forces under General Meade, 
the Confederates under General Lee. The battle 
began on the first day of July, 1863, and lasted for 
three days. On the third day, the Confederates 
made one of the most desperate charges known in 
the history of war. On that charge hung the fate of 
the Confederacy, and those devoted heroes in gray 
knew it. It failed. A monument now stands at the 
foremost point reached by the charging host, which 
shows the high- water mark of the tide of rebellion. 

Lee was defeated ; and his shattered army made its 
way in sorrow back to Virginia. 

206. Vicksburg. 

Gettysburg was a great victory in the East. While 
Meade was winning it, Grant was also winning in the 
West. For two weeks he had laid close siege to 
Vicksburg, which commanded the Mississippi. On 
July 4, 1863, while Lee was retreating from Gettys- 
burg, Pemberton, the Confederate commander at 
Vicksburg, was surrendering to Grant. More pris- 
oners and war supplies were taken by Grant, at 
Vicksburg, than were ever before surrendered at one 
time in any war. Lee lost thirty thousand men, and 
Pemberton more than that. Four days later, Port 
Hudson on the Mississippi surrendered to the Union 
Army and the whole river, from its source to its 
mouth was now in the hands of the Nation. 



278 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

207. Chattanooga and Chickamauga. 

Next to Richmond, in importance to the South, 
was the city of Chattanooga, Tenn. It was a rail- 
way center and the gateway to eastern Tennessee. 
Rosecrans. with his Union Army took Chattanooga in 
September, forcing the Confederate Bragg and his 
army back to Chickamauga, Georgia. There Bragg 
was joined by another army and, turning on Rose- 
crans who was pursuing him, he defeated him and 
drove him back to Chattanooga. Bragg 's victory 
cheered the Confederates in their season of defeat. 

208. Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. 

Bragg besieged Rosecrans in Chattanooga, as Grant 
had besieged Pemberton in Vicksburg. It seemed 
that starvation would compel the surrender of the 
Union Arm}^, as all its supplies were cut off. Thou- 
sands of horses and mules died for want of food, and 
there was not enough powder and ball for a day's 
battle. 

Up to this time, one general in the Union Army had 
never failed. \^^atever task had been set for Grant 
had been carried through. He was now placed in 
command of all the armies of the West. 

Hurrjnng to Chattanooga, he very quickly found a 
way to get supplies to the starving army. Late in 
November, Bragg's forces were defeated in the battles 
of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and 



THE GREAT REBELLION 



279 



driven into Georgia. Fate was, indeed, unfriendly 
to the Southern cause. The Confederacy was doomed. 
The courage of the Southern soldiers began to fail. 
The men in the ranks saw, what their leaders well 
knew, that there was no use in further fighting. 
They began to desert by thousands. The moun- 
tains of the South were full of Confederate deserters. 




CONFEDERACY AT END OF 1863. 

Before the end of 1864, there were a hundred thou- 
sand of them. "Whole regiments were sent from the 
front, back to the States, to hunt deserters and force 
them back to the field. 

As the hopes of the South went down, those of the 
North were raised. Victory was in sight, and now 
the danger that the peace party in the North would 
win the fall elections began to pass away. 



280 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

209. English and French War- Vessels for the South. 

In England, more war- vessels were being built for 
the Confederacy. Our minister in England told the 
English government that the sailing of those ships 
meant war for England. Other war-vessels were 
being built in France, but when the emperor saw 
that their leaving port meant war, he held them 
back. Germany and Russia were friendly to the 
United States all through the War of the RebeUion. 

210. Grant in Command. 

It was now 1864; a President was to be elected. 
During this year the main issue was, whether the 
war should go on, or whether the South should be 
allowed to go out of the Union. The fate of the 
Nation was at stake. The election was more impor- 
tant than any battle of the war. To save the Union, 
Lincoln must be elected again. To elect Lincoln, more 
victories must be w^on, that the hearts of those who 
were despondent might be strengthened. Early in 
the year General Grant was put in command of all 
the Union armies; and the hopes of the lo3^al people 
were in the general who never yet had failed. It 
was now Grant against Lee. 

211. Grant's Plans. 

The Confederacy had now been battered back from 
the outside until its fighting area was confined to 
Virginia, the CaroUnas, and Georgia. Said Grant to 



THE GREAT REBELLION 281 

Sherman, " You attend to Johnston and his army in 
the West, and I will attend to Lee and his army in 
the East. Each will be kept so bus}^ with his own 
troubles, that he cannot help the other." 

Richmond and Atlanta were now the most impor- 
tant points in the South. Early in May, Grant set 
out to fight Lee and to capture Richmond. He 
telegraphed Sherman to go after Johnston's army, 
and to take Atlanta. 

212. The Wilderness. A Fighting General. 

Both Grant and Sherman were quite successful in 
finding the enemy. May 6 and 7, 1864, saw Grant's 
force in a death grapple with Lee's army in the 
"Wilderness," Grant with nearly twice the force of 
Lee. There was severe fighting, and Grant did not 
win. "The Yankees are whipped again," said the 
Confederates. " They will now fall back to Washing- 
ton, as they always do." But, to their surprise, the 
new general did not seem to know when he was 
whipped. He did not fall back, as McDowell, McClel- 
lan, Burnside, Hooker and Pope had done, when 
they were whipped. He swung around to the left 
and came on again. 

213. Spottsylvania. 

This time the fighting was at Spottsylvania Court 
House. Lee was waiting for him, and again Grant 
did not win, though, as before, the fighting was fear- 



282 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

ful and the harvest of death was great. Baffled 
twice, Grant still kept on fighting. He seemed to 
know that war is fighting; and he kept on fighting. 
He sent this despatch to President Lincoln: "I pro- 
pose to fight it out on this Hne if it takes all summer." 

214. Cold Harbor. 

Again he swung to the left and, at Cold Harbor, he 
again found Lee in his way. A\Tiat was left of tlie 
two armies again grappled, and again, after fearful 
slaughter. Grant failed to win. 

215. Petersburg. 

Once more Grant swomg to the left, this time cross- 
ing the James River. He entrenched before Peters- 
burg which was the key to Richmond, and here again 
Lee faced him. 

In the six weeks of fighting, since Grant started, 
he had lost fifty thousand men. Lee, having the 
advantage of fighting behind earth-works, had lost 
less, but had lost more than he could afford. The 
two armies were grinding each other do\\Ti ; and now, 
as they stood face to face at Petersburg, it was a 
trial of strength, to see which could hold out longer. 
Grant's army could be kept up by recruits to take 
the places of the slain; Lee's could not, for the Con- 
federacy was drained of men, even of those too young 
to fight and too old to fight. The South was tired 
out, starved out ; and could not last much longer. 



THE GREAT REBELLION 



283 



216. The Shenandoah Valley. 

Lee's wonderful skill could not make up for the 
lack of men. He missed "Stonewall" Jackson. For 



I'lill'iiiriirilir'ifTlJ 






GENERAL PHILIP H. SHERIDAN. 




want of him he sent a less able general to try the old 
trick of threatening Washington by a movement 
through the Shenandoah Valley. General Early 



284 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

went there wdth a force, hoping to draw troops away 
from Grant. He did draw troops from Grant, and 
they, under General Sheridan, drove him back, but 
still Grant kept his pressure on Lee. He was holding 
Lee's force in check while Sherman was fighting 
Johnston in the West. Thus, the winter of 1864 
went by. Grant's army was in front of Petersburg, 
threatening Richmond ; Lee's smaller force was in and 
about Petersburg, defending Richmond. The South, 
stricken by poverty and want, was robbing its 
homes to feed and clothe Lee's soldiers, while the 
North, the home of plenty, was supplying Grant's 
men, without feeling it. Sooner or later the South 
must give way. Every night saw deserters coming 
into Grant's lines. "It is of no use;" they said, 
"we have fought for the South until hope is gone. 
Our leaders are now merely wasting our lives in a 
forlorn hope. We will fight no more." 

217. Desperate Measures. 

The Confederate leaders, baffled at every point, 
grew desperate. They were ready to tr}^ any scheme, 
however wild, that gave even a faint hope of success. 
The}^ sent disguised men to Canada to arrange for 
raids into the Northern States, where Copperhead 
secret organizations were to help them. They 
thought to thus set free many thousands of Confeder- 
ate prisoners. They sent men to take passage on 
steamboats on the Great Lakes, and kill the unarmed 



THE GREAT REBELLION 285 

crews and seize the vessels. They sent men to burn 
Northern cities. An attempt was made, late in the 
year, to burn New York. The plan was to set fire to 
about a dozen hotels and theaters, all at once. Had 
the plan succeeded, hundreds, if not thousands, of 
women and children would have lost their lives. For- 
tunately the fires started were all put out. There was 
a plot to burn Cincinnati and Chicago. 

218. The Nation's Credit. 

The Copperheads talked down the credit of the 
Nation. The notes of the Government went down in 
value until it took nearly three dollars of greenbacks 
to buy as much as could be bought for a dollar in 
gold. The Copperheads railed at those who bought 
Government bonds. They said that they were fools 
who were throwing away their money; and they 
declared that the bonds would soon be worthless. 

219. Taxes in the Confederacy. 

In the South, the notes of the Confederacy, the 
States, and the cities, for they all had put out notes, 
were worthless. The tax-gatherers no longer took 
such notes in payment of taxes. They went around 
among the people, seizing one-tenth of all the crops 
raised. The Governor of Virginia, in his message, 
asked that something be done to prevent starvation 
in the State. Many of the soldiers had not been 
paid in two years. There was danger of war in 



286 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

many parts of the South because of the oppression 
of the people. 

220. Atlanta Falls. 

While Grant was fighting Lee and holding him at 
baj^, Sherman was busy in the West. Atlanta, cen- 
ter of railroads, and city of factories, was helpful 
to the Confederac}^; and it must be taken. Sherman 
set out to take the city. Johnston wnth his army 
stood in the way. He was a great general, but his 
army was weak, too weak to face Sherman's force in 
a set battle. He fell slowl}^ back, forced by Sher- 
man from point to point; and Sherman drew nearer 
and nearer to the city he sought. Said President 
Davis to the able Johnston, "Why don't j^ou fight? 
Fight ! Fight !" But Johnston, who knew better than 
to fight, still fell back. 

Then Davis displaced Johnston with General Hood, 
who loved fighting. He was only too willing to fight, 
and he did fight. As Johnston had foreseen, he w^as 
defeated in every battle, and Sherman took Atlanta, 
early in Septem.ber, 1864, after its defenders had set 
the city on fire. While Sherman was taking Atlanta, 
Farragut, w4th his fleet, and a force of soldiers took 
Mobile. Thus, while Grant kept Lee from helping 
Johnston, Sherman was tearing dovni the Confederacy 
and destroying railroads that Lee would need, sooner 
or later, in running away from Grant. 



288 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

221. The March to the Sea. 

After losing Atlanta, Hood made what both Presi- 
dent Davis and he believed to be a master move. 
He put his army behind that of Sherman so as to cut 
off Sherman's supplies from the North. "Now," 
said Davis, "Sherman will lose his army." 

But Hood had done just what Sherman and Grant 
had hoped he would do. The army of General 
Thomas attended to Hood and his force, while Sher- 
man cut loose from his line of supplies and, with his 
sixty thousand men, started on a long march across 
the enemy's country, "From Atlanta to the sea." 
His men helped themselves to food as they went, and 
proved even harder tax-gatherers than those of the 
Confederacy had been. The Confederacy had been 
pressed back into a small compass ; it was now to be 
torn up at its ver}^ heart. Factories and railroads 
were destroyed throughout a strip sixty miles wide 
across the State of Georgia. Reaching the sea-coast, 
Sherman took the city of Savannah about Christmas, 
1864. 

222. The Elections. 

It was now the fall of 1864; the election of a Presi- 
dent was to be held in November. The Peace Demo- 
crats of the North had nominated General McClellan, 
long out of army service, and the Repubhcans and 
War Democrats were going to vote for Lincoln. 



THE GREAT REBELLION 289 

To the long list of Union victories, that had come to 
cheer the North, more were added by Sheridan who 
had been sent to sweep the Shenandoah Valley. On 
the nineteenth of September, 1864, there was a vic- 
tory at Winchester; on the twenty-second, another at 
Fisher's Hill; and on October 19, another at Cedar 
Creek. The Confederates were driven from the val- 
ley, never to return. 

In the election, the Nation won the greatest vic- 
tory of the war, for Lincoln was again made President. 
Andrew Johnson, a War Democrat, was elected Vice-j, 
President. Enough Republican Senators and Con- 
gressmen were elected to pass an amendment to 
the Constitution that killed slavery, thus making 
good the President's Proclamation of Emancipation. 

223. The South Fights from Pride. 

The Confederacy lost the war when its great charge 
at Gettj^sburg failed. From that day, the war went 
on because the leaders were too proud to yield. The 
saying was common in the camps of the South, " This 
is a rich man's war and a poor man's fight." It was 
now late in 1864; only two ports were left to the 
Confederacy, and it had but two armies. Lee was 
still shut up by Grant, while Johnston was beset by 
Sherman, against whom he could not hold his ground. 
The Nation had more than a million men in the field ; 
and it was only a matter of weeks when the Confed- 
eracv must end from sheer weakness. 



290 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



224. Sherman Marches North. 

Scarcely had the new year, 1865, begun when 
Wilmington w^as taken. Charleston now remained, 
and though it had resisted more than one attack by 
sea, it could not withstand the attack that Sherman 
was prepared to make l^y land ; as its defenders well 
knew. On the first of February, 1865, Sherman set 




era I 



Territo, 




CONFEDERACY AT END OF 1804. 



forth from Savannah to march through the Carolinas, 
as he had marched through Georgia. On the seven- 
teenth, he took Columbia, the capital of South Caro- 
Hna, the birthplace of secession. Now Charleston 
could be starved out; but without waiting for that, 
the city surrendered, and Fort Sumter was given up 
to the Nation, from which it had been withheld 
four years. 



THE GREAT REBELLION 



291 



It was now proposed in the South that negroes 
should be made to serve as soldiers; but though the 




GENERAL SHERMAN. 



proposal met with favor from General Lee, it was not 
put in force. 

Sherman went on from Columbia and, by the mid- 



292 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



die of March, had reached Raleigh and Goldsboro, 
N. C. Here he was joined by troops from the 
coast and, with his hundred thousand men, he 
rested and waited for what might happen. He was 
expecting a movement by Lee's army. He waited for 
news. 




CONFEDERACY, SPRING OF 1865. 



225. Grant and Lee at Petersburg. 

Grant was watching Lee, ready to spring upon his 
army at the first sign of a movement. Sheridan, 
having swept the Shenandoah Valle}^ was now with 
Grant. On the first day of April, 1865, by Grant's 
order, he seized the last railroad b}^ which Lee's 
army could receive supplies. Lee must now attack 
Grant, and be defeated with dreadful slaughter; or 



THE GREAT REBELLION 293 

retreat from Richmond, which would give his men a 
chance to desert by thousands ; or stay where he was, 
and let his men starve. 

226. Lee Abandons Richmond. 

On April 2, Grant pressed Lee all along the line, 
breaking through and forcing him back toward Rich- 
mond. By the morning of the third, Richmond 
had been aloandoned, and Lee's army was in full re- 
treat toward Lynchburg. The Union Army followed 
swiftly, to overtake it and bring it to battle, for it was 
known that Lee hoped to join Johnston and prolong 
the war. 

On the sixth of April, the rear part of Lee's army 
was overtaken, and several thousand prisoners with 
several miles of wagon train were captured. On the 
ninth of April, the Union troops under Sheridan 
blocked the wa}^, and helcRhe Confederate force, what 
was left of it, until the rest of the Union Army came up. 
Most of Lee's men had left his columns and started 
for their homes, feeling that all was lost. 

227. Lee's Surrender. 

To fight was hopeless, and Lee surrendered the 
weak renmant of his army to General Grant, April 
9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Va. 

The soldiers in blue and those in gray, who an 
hour before had sought to kill each other, now 
mingled in fellowship. The haversacks of the well- 



294 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

fed boys in blue were opened freely for the famished 
bo3"S in gray. A gallant \nctor is alwaj^s generous 
to a defeated but gallant foe. "Keep your horses," 
said Grant to the Confederate soldiers, "you will 
need them in planting 3'our fields." 

Sherman's army was still resting and waiting for 
news, in North Carolina, when the soldiers noticed 
that the people seemed strangely sad. " Have you 
not heard the news?" said a gentleman to General 
Howard, "No; what is it?" asked Howard. "Our 
Armj" of Virginia, Lee's army, has surrendered to your 
General Grant." Thus the news that Sherman 
waited for came to him. In a few days Johnston 
surrendered his army to General Sherman, and the 
Great Rebellion was over. 

228. What the War had Cost. 

Of those who entered the Union armies, three 
hundred and sixt}'^ thousand lost their lives. Two- 
thirds as many died in the Confederate armies. The 
Nation, from Maine to Texas, was full of men maimed 
and crippled from wounds or disease; for several 
times as many were wounded, as were killed. Almost 
every home in the land was a house of mourning. 
The loss and waste of property, including the slaves, 
were more than eight thousand miUions of dollars. 
Each year of the war had cost the Nation a sum 
greater than had been spent by it in all the years 
from the time of Washington dov^n to that of Lincoln. 



THE GREAT REBELLION 295 

229. What the War Did. 

The South had spent all it had and all it could 
borrow. Its money, its credit, its property were all 
gone. The hand of war had lain hea\y on its homes; 
for they had been ravaged by the march and the 
battles of contending armies. 

The war settled the slavery question forever, for it 
brought al)out the Thirteenth Amendment to the 
Constitution, forbidding human bondage. It opened 
up the South to the influence of the white man^s industry. 
Under free labor, the southern part of our country 
has made a wonderful advance in prosperity, and has 
gained vastly more than it lost. It made the United 
States truly a Nation and finished the work of the men 
who made the Constitution ; for since the war it has 
been known by all men, that no State can leave the 
Union. 

SUMMARY. 

1. The Civil War begins with the bombarding of Fort Sumter. 

2. President Lincoln calls for volunteers. 

3. The Southern ports are blockaded. 

4. The Union forces defeated at Bull Run. 

5. General McClellan is given command of the Union armies. 

6. Capture of Mason and Slidell. 

7. Forts Donelson and Henry are taken. 

8. Battle of Shiloh and capture of Corinth. 

9. The fight between the "Monitor" and "Virginia." 
10. Capture of New Orleans. 

IL Suffering in the South. 



296 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

12. McClellan attempts to capture Richmond. 

13. Second Battle of Bull Run. Defeat of the Union forces. 

14. Confederate invasion of Maryland. Battle of Antietam. 

15. Union forces defeated at Fredericksburg and at Chancellors- 

ville. 

16. Emancipation Proclamation. 

17. The "Alabama." 

18. Draft Riots in New York City. 

19. The Battle of Gettysburg. 

20. The capture of Vicksburg. Control of the Mississippi River. 

21. Capture of Chattanooga. 

22. Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Re- 

treat of the Confederates. 

23. General Grant placed in full command. 

24. Grant against Lee in Virginia, and Sherman against John- 

ston in the South. 

25. Sherman takes Atlanta and " marches to the sea." 

26. Lincoln is re-elected President. 

26. Lee abandons Richmond and surrenders to Grant at Appo- 

mattox Court House, Va. 

27. General Johnston surrenders his army to Sherman at 

Raleigh, N. C. 
29. The end of the war. Results of the war. 

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 

1. What caused the Rebellion? 

2. Where was the first fighting of the war? 

3. What was the effect in the North of the bombardment and 

capture of Fort Sumter. 

4. How was the blockade very harmful to the South? 

5. When and where did the first Battle of Bull Run occur? 

Who were the opposing generals? Which side was vic- 
torious? 



THE GREAT REBELLION 297 

6. Who was first Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces? 

Who after him? 

7. Who were Mason and Slidell? Where and on what errand 

were they sent? 

8. Where were Forts Donelson and Henry? Why was their 

location important? By whom were they captured? 

9. How came the Battle of Shiloh to be fought? Results of 

Union victory at Shiloh? Where was Corinth? Why 
was its capture important? 

10. What famous sea-fight took place in Hampton Roads? 

With what results? 

11. What important Southern port was taken in 1862? 

12. Give an account of General McClellan's movements against 

Richmond, June, 1862. Were they successful? 

13. Who had command of the Union forces at the second Battle 

of Bull Run? What was the result of this fight? 

14. What movement to the north was made by General Lee? 

What battle did he fight? With what result? 

15. Where was General Burnside defeated? Who succeeded 

General Burnside? 

16. What was the Emancipation Proclamation? When was it 

issued ? 

17. For what purpose was the cruiser "Alabama" built? What 

became of her? 

18. Give an account of the Draft Riots? 

19. What was the decisive battle of the war? Give an account 

of it. 

20. What important Union victory was won in the South at 

about the same time? 

21. Where was Chattanooga? Chickamauga? Lookout Moun- 

tain? Missionary Ridge? 

22. Who was placed in command of the Union armies in 1864? 

23. What was Grant's plan of campaign? 

24. What was Sherman ordered to do? What cities did he take? 



298 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

25. Give an account of Grant's movements. 

26. When did Lee abandon Richmontl ? When did he surrender? 

Where? 

27. To whom did Johnston surrender? Where? 

28. What questions did the War of the RebelUon settle forever? 



Chapter VIII. 

RECONSTRUCTION, SUBSEQUENT EVENTS. 

230. The Death of Lincoln. 

In the hour of victory the great heart of the Presi- 
dent was filled with pity for the South. At a cabinet 
meeting, April 14, which proved to be his last, Mr. 
Lincoln said : " I hope there will be no persecution, 
no bloody work, after the war is over. No one need 
expect me to take any part in hanging or killing these 
men, even the worst of them. Enough lives have 
been sacrificed." 

That night he was murdered. A drunken wretch, 
in his senseless rage at the defeat of the Rebellion, 
killed the tender-hearted Lincoln, and thus robbed the 
South, in its time of need, of the best and most pow- 
erful friend it had on earth. Two other Presidents 
have since lost their hves at the hands of assassins: 
President Garfield (1881) and President McKinley 
(1901). 

231. President Johnson. 

In a most critical tim.e, the Nation was without a 
President. For this reason haste was shown, and, 
three hours after Mr. Lincoln's death, the Vice-Presi- 
dent took the oath of oflice as President of the United 
States. Thus, at the close of the war, a man became 

299 



300 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



President who, more strongly perhaps than any other 
pubKc man in the North, hated those who had been 
in rebelKon. 




PRESIDENT JOHNSON. 



Now that the RebelHon was cmshed, the States 
that had tried to leave the Union were \^ithout 



RESTORING THE NATION 301 

governments. To restore them to their proper places 
and to good government, was a very hard thing to do. 
Lincoln could have done the work better than any- 
other man; but Johnson, hating the South, hated by 
the South, trusted b}^ few, was hardly the proper man 
for the work. Johnson soon strangely changed his. 
mind. He gave up his purposes of anger, hate, and 
vengeance, and became the friend of the South. As 
extreme in his friendship now, as he had been in his 
hatred, he sought to restore the States at once to the 
Union. He intended to do it by himself, as being 
independent of Congress. 

232. Pardons for Rebels. 

Late in May, President Johnson issued a " Proclam- 
ation of Amnesty and Pardon" to all persons who had 
been in rebellion, except a few, on their taking the 
oath of loyalty to the Constitution. Those who were 
excepted were invited to apply for special pardon. 
Never, in all history, had a people defeated in war 
been given such generous treatment. Johnson 
seemed to be doing as Lincoln would have done, had 
he lived. Many of those excepted asked for pardon; 
and none were refused. Most of these were grateful; 
but some of them nursed their hatred of the power 
that had subdued them, regardless of its kindness 
afterward. 

During the summer, several of the Southern States 
set up State governments, which repealed the acts 



302 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

by which they had seceded. Each legislature voted 
that the Confederate war debt should not be paid, and 
each State ratified the Thirteenth Amendment. Then 
the President told them that they were regular States 
of the Union again, just as they were before they 
seceded. The States elected Senators and Represen- 
tatives to the National Congress under President 
Johnson's policy; but when Congress met in the 
fall, these men were not admitted. Congress said 
that the President had no right to give the States, 
lately in rebellion, such standing in the Union as he 
had assumed to give them. 

233. The Condition of the Freedmen. 

It was a bitter thing to the people of the South that 
slavery, for which thej^ had fought so desperately, was 
lost. Since the}" could not restore slavery as it had 
been, they set about bringing the freed negroes to a 
condition as near like slavery as might be. This was 
showTi by the laws passed by the Legislatures of the 
States. The negroes, as slaves, had never had any 
rights in the courts ; they had no such rights now that 
they were free. The Nation having set the negroes 
free meant that they should have the rights of human 
beings, even though State laws were passed that they 
should not. Unless the Nation protected the negroes 
of the South, they were in a much worse plight now, 
than they were in before the war. 



RESTORING THE NATION 303 

234. The President's Policy. 

President Johnson, now the friend of the South, 
soon became its champion. He was as fully under 
the influence of the South, as any Democratic Presi- 
dent ever had been. He had forsaken the Republi- 
can party, that elected him, as completely as Tyler 
had, years before, forsaken the Whig party that 
elected him. Paying no attention to the counsels of 
those who had put down the rebellion, he went ahead 
by himself to grant favors to the South, under what 
he called "My policy." 

235. The Civil Rights Bill. 

In 1865, Congress passed a law called the Civil Rights 
Bill. Its purpose was to protect the negroes from 
abuse in the South, and give them the rights of 
white men, under the United States law. It also pre- 
vented any Southern man from holding office, until 
he had taken oath that he had not been engaged in 
rebellion. 

236. The Fourteenth Amendment. 

In 1866, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment to the Constitution which was to the effect that 
no State could take from a citizen any rights given 
him by the Nation; and that the national debt 
should be paid; but that no debt incurred for the 
rebelhon should l3e paid. 



304 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Other laws concerning the building up of the Union 
were passed by Congress. The President, seeming 
to resent the course of Congress in not leaving 
all such matters to him, vetoed almost every such 
law. But the laws were passed over his veto. 

In 1866, Tennessee came into the Union, after 
ratifying the Amendment. The other seceded States 
would not ratif}^, so they were not admitted. In this 
way the South was waging another war, but of a 
different kind. 

237. The Ku-Klux-Klan. 

A secret societj^ had sprung up in the South, the 
purpose of which was to rob the negroes of their 
rights under the Amendments. At one time it had 
half a mini on members, a host greater than the Con- 
federacy ever had in arms. These men made it their 
business to spread terror among the negroes so that 
they could control them. They rode at night in 
armed hands, hideously disguised, and dragged ne- 
groes from their beds and flogged them. They mur- 
dered many of them. They murdered Union white 
men. By members of the Klan, and ])y men who were 
not members, hundreds of Union men were killed, 
and thousands were driven from the South. 

The loyal people of the South, those who had always 
lived there, and those who had moved there from the 
North, asked of the Nation that their lives and rights 
might be protected from the terrible ruffianism of the 



RESTORING THE NATION 305 

Ku-Klux-Klan and others. "Why," said the Union 
people of the South, white and black, " an American 
citizen in any foreign country, has a thousand times 
as much protection and safet}^, as he can have in the 
Southern part of his own country." 

238. Military Government. 

In response to this appeal Congress passed a law, 
in 1867, over the President's veto, which divided the 
still rebellious South into five districts, each of which 
was placed under military government. This law 
was known as the "Military Reconstruction Law." 
It was grounded upon the fact that there were no 
legal governments in the conquered States, and that 
peace and good order must be enforced until loyal 
governments could be set up. The carrying out of 
this law checked the Ku-Klux outrages somewhat, 
but they did not end for some years. 

By 1868, all the States but Virginia, Mississippi 
and Texas had formed their governments, and rati- 
fied the Amendment ; and their Senators and Repre- 
sentatives were in Congress. By 1S70, the last State 
had taken the required course ; and all the late Con- 
federate States were in good standing as States of the 
Union. 

239. Enmity Between Congress and the President. 

The President insisted on being the Government, 
and on defying Congress, while Congress in many 



306 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

ways checked the President. In 1867, it was feared 
that the President intended to strengthen his power 
by removing officials and appointing to their places, 
men friendly to him and his policy. To prevent this, 
Congress passed a law under which the President 
coidd not remove any of the higher officials without 
the consent of the Senate. It was called ''The Tenure 
of Office Law." 

In defiance of Congress and of the law it had passed. 
President Johnson removed the Secretary of War, 
and appointed another man to the place. The new 
man remained until Congress met and refused to con- 
firm the President's appointment. Then the former 
Secretary of War returned to the office. At this 
the President ordered his man to hold the office. For 
thus trying to override an Act of Congress, the Presi- 
dent was charged with committing a crime and was 
tried by the Senate, sitting as a court. He was 
found not guilty by a very close vote, one vote saving 
him from impeachment. 

240. Mexico. 

AVhen the War of the Rebellion broke out, and the 
power of the United States to uphold the Monroe 
Doctrine seemed to be gone, the Emperor of France 
thought it a good time to start a monarchy in North 
America. He quarreled with Mexico, and sent troops 
there. Then he sent more until he had some sixty 
thousand French troops in Mexico. The Mexican 



RESTORING THE NATION 307 

government was overthrown; and a brother of the 
Emperor of Austria was made Emperor of Mexico. 
France was warned by the United States that no 
monarchy would be allowed to stand in Mexico; but 
the warnings were not heeded. In 1867, a very 
pointed request from the United States, that French 
troops be withdrawn from Mexico, was heeded; and 
all the troops went back to France, After that, the 
Mexicans overthrew the Emperor, Maximilian, and 
he was put to death. Mexico is still a repubhc. 

In 1867, Nebraska was admitted as a State of the 
Union. A treaty was made with Russia, during the 
same year, by which Russian America Vv^as bought 
by the United States. Its name was changed to 
Alaska. 

241. President Grant. 

As the end of the Presidential term drew near, the 
Republicans named for President, General Grant; 
while the* Democrats named Horatio Seymour, of 
New York, a man who had been Governor of that 
State. Grant was elected. 

242. The Fifteenth Amendment. 

"A few days before Grant took office, Congress passed 
the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The 
Amendm.ent is a short one, giving to the negroes 
lately in slavery the right to vote. It was nearly 



308 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



two years before the Amendment was ratified and 
became a part of the Constitution. 




GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 



Thus the Thirteenth Amendment gave the slave 
freedom; the Fourteenth gave him the rights of a 
citizen; and the Fifteenth protected him as a voter. 



RESTORING THE NATION 309 

The three Amendments settled forever the slavery 
question. They stand as showing the results of the 
war. 

243. The Pacific Railroad. 

In 1863, was begun a railroad from the Missouri 
River to the Pacific coast, railroads having already 
been l^uilt from the Atlantic coast to the great river. 
In 1869, the Pacific road was completed so that a train 
could cross the continent. A train ran from New 
York to San Francisco. Since then, several other 
hnes to the Pacific have been built. These roads and 
their branches have brought into use millions of 
acres of good land that was worthless until, by these 
roads, its crops could be sent to market. So great a 
country as the United States could hardly be held to- 
gether, as one nation, were it not that railroads 
make traffic easy between its distant parts. Before 
the building of the Pacific railroads, it took one hun- 
dred and ten days to go from Omaha to San Fran- 
cisco. 

244. The Ninth Census. 

By the census of 1870, the population of the coun- 
tr}^ appeared to be a little more than thirty-eight 
and a half millions. The war had not prevented the 
advance of the Nation, during the ten years between 
1860 and 1870. The building of the railroad to the 
Pacific, and of the ocean telegraph from America to 



310 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Europe, were arr.ong the most important things 
accompHshed. 

245. The "Alabama" Claims. 

The Nation was fast recovering from the war. 
The fighting was long past, and the settlements 
that followed the war were finished. Now there was 
a chance to take up and settle some things that had 
not yet been attended to. One of these was the mat- 
ter of the war- vessels allowed by England to go to sea 
from her ports, to destroy the merchant vessels of 
our people, during the war. The United States held 
England to account for the damage that those ves- 
sels had done, and made claims for pa3^ment. These 
claims were known as the '^^.labama" Claims because 
they were based mainly on damages inflicted by that 
vessel. 

Just after the war, the United States had asked that 
the matter be settled by having the case referred to 
other parties, who were to determine what was a fair 
settlement of the matter. England had flatly refused. 
Our Governement wns patient and, after a time, again 
asked that something be done, and again the request 
was refused. In 1868, an attempt was made, by Presi- 
dent Johnson, to settle the matter. This also ended 
in failure. 

In 1870, President Grant took the matter in hand. 
He made no appeal to England, but in his message 
to Congress he proposed that our Government deter- 



RESTORING THE NATION 311 

mine the claims, which our citizens had against Eng- 
land, and pay them. Then the claimant against 
England would be the Government of the United 
States. He said that notice of this action should be 
sent to the English government. 

The President's course showed England that our 
Government was in earnest. War was raging in 
Europe, between Germany and France; and it might 
be that England would be drawn into the contest. 
She saw that she must settle the claims of the United 
States, and agree that there should be no more sending 
out of such ships as the "Alabama," by either nation 
against the other. She saw that if she did not settle 
these claims, she might suffer in some future war by 
having our Nation treat her as she had treated us. 
The prospect of having her commerce swept from 
the sea by American-built "Alabamas," whenever 
she might be at war with any other nation, was not 
a pleasant one; and England settled the account. 
She paid many milhons of dollars, and a treaty was 
made which put a stop forever to the building by 
either nation of such ships as the "Alabama." 

246. Ku-Klux Outrages. 

Murderous violence still reigned in many parts 
of the South. The Ku-Klux were still active. In 
1871, Congress made a law known as the Enforce- 
ment Act, under which the President might use the 
military force, and might take other strong measures 



312 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

to secure peace and order. Under this law the Ku- 
Klux-Klan was broken up, and better conditions in 
the South prevailed. 

247. The Amnesty Act. Election. Panic. 

In 1872, Congress passed the Amnesty Act which 
gave to all ex-rebels, except about three hundred of 
the leaders, all of their political rights. 

In 1872, General Grant was elected for a second 
term as President. He was opposed by Horace 
Greeley, a Repubhcan editor of New York, who was 
named for the office by the Democratic party, and 
also by a wing of the Republican party, called the 
Liberal Republicans. 

During the following year, a great business panic 
swept the country. 

248. Resumption of Specie Payments. 

From the early days of the war, coins of silver and 
gold had been out of circulation. For money, bills 
were used, ranging from five cents upward. The 
premium on gold and silver money, that is the value 
of coin above that of paper money, had steadily 
grown less, but was still considerable in 1875. At 
this time Congress passed a law, to take effect in 
1879, that the Government would resume payments 
in coin. It was believed that with the certainty of 
such payments at a set time, the difference in value 



RESTORING THE NATION 313 

between paper money and coin would gradually dis- 
appear. 

In 1876, Colorado came into the Union as a State. 

249. A Disputed Presidential Election. 

In 1876, the Republicans named for President, 
Rutherford B. Hayes, who had been a general in the 
Union Army. The Democrats named Samuel J. 
Tilden, of New York. 

The election was very close, and the result was for 
a time in doubt. The Democrats had expected to 
carry all the Southern States, as they had always 
done before the war, and they claimed that they had 
done so in this case. The Republicans claimed to 
have carried North Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. 
It was finally decided that the Republicans did 
carry the three States named, and that thus they 
carried the election, and elected General Hayes to 
the Presidency. 

250. Specie Payment Resumed. 

As had been expected, the difference in the pur- 
chasing power of greenbacks and gold lessened as 
1879 drew near; and when the appointed day came, 
the difference disappeared and paper currency and 
coin stood, as having the same value. From that 
time until now, the Government and the banks, when 
paying money, have given people their choice between 
paper bills and gold. 



314 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



251. Paying the War Debt. 

So prosperous was the Nation that it began paying 
the national debt as soon as the war ended. Bv 




RUTHERFOKD B. HAYES. 



the beginning of 1879, four hundred milUon dollars 
had been paid. No other nation has ever paid its 
public debts as fast as ours has. 



THE SECOND CENTURY 315 

252. Chinese Immigration. 

The rapid growth of population in California, under 
the influence of the Pacific Railroad, and the opening 
up of the many chances for wealth which that State 
offers, were such that there was great need of laborers 
there. Labor was very cheap in China, on the other 
side of the Pacific; and soon Chinese laborers began 
to cross the ocean in great numbers to work in Cali- 
fornia. They would work for very low wages, and 
would yet be getting several times as much pay as 
they could earn in their own country. Their coming 
was encouraged by those who employed labor. 

They came under a treaty between China and the 
United States, which provided that the citizens of 
either country might visit the other country, but 
could not become citizens. These coolies, as they 
were called, worked at wages much lower than 
Americans could live upon. The presence in CaH- 
fornia of the many thousands of coolies that were 
there, and the likelihood that many more would 
come were harmful to the State. The matter of the 
shutting out of Chinese laborers became a question 
of importance during the term of President Hayes. 

253. Tenth Census. 

The census of 1880, showed that the Nation had a 
population of more than fifty millions. 

In 1872, a war broke out with the Modoc Indians 
who lived along the line between Cahfornia and 



316 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Oregon. It lasted about a year and resulted, as wars 
with the Indians always have, in the defeat of the 
red men. The tribe was at length removed to the 
Indian Territory. 

In 1S76, the telephone came into use and lighting 
b}^ electricity began. There was trouble with the 
Sioux Indians this year, caused by their being re- 
moved, against their will, to places appointed for 
them in the West. In 1879, a great improvement 
was made in the way of deepening one of the channels 
at the mouth of the Mississippi. It enables vessels 
of great draft to reach the wharves of New Orleans. 

254. Election of Garfield. 

In 1880, James A. Garfield, who had been a general 
in the Union Army, was elected by the Republican 
party to the Presidency. General Hancock, another 
famous Union soldier, was named by the Democrats. 
Both parties showed by their platform that they op- 
posed Chinese immigration. During Garfield's term, 
a treaty was made with China, under which the 
coming of f'hinese laborers to this country was very 
much lessened. 

255. Death of Garfield. 

President Garfield was opposed to the theory, that 
had prevailed ever since the time of Jackson, that to 
the \4ctors in a political contest belong the spoils of 
office. He was beset by politicians to appoint their 



THE SECOND CENTURY 317 

friends to office. In many cases he refused to com- 
ply wdth their wishes. The two Senators from New 



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JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



York asked that a certain man be given an impor- 
tant national office, and the President refused to 
appoint him. Then both Senators resigned. The 



318 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

many disputes about appointment to office turned 
the head of an office-seeker, who had failed to get the 
place he desired, and he shot the President, at Wash- 
ington, July 2, 1881. President Garfield lived until 
September 19, following. 

256. President Arthur. 

The death of the President made the Vice-Presi- 
dent, Chester A. Arthur, of New York, President of 
the United States. He served throughout the term 
for which Garfield had been elected. The death of 
Garfield drew pul)hc attention strongly to the evils 
of the office-scrambling, that followed each election, 
and led to the passage of an Act by Congress, called 
the Civil Service Act. Under this Act, those who are 
appointed to office must have first passed an exami- 
nation as to their fitness. It also protects good men 
in * office from being discharged, and from being 
made to pay money for party purposes. The law 
was passed in 1883. 

257. The New Navy. 

The war closed with the United States possessing 
the most powerful navy in the world. But by 1883, 
the war-ships of the Nation had so far decayed, or 
were so much exceeded in power by the ships built 
later b}^ other nations, that it was thought wise to 
begin the building of new vessels of a better type 
than that of the old ones. From that beginning has 
grown the great American Nav}^ of to-day. 



THE SECOND CENTURY 



319 



258. The Brooklyn Bridge. 

After sixteen years of JDuilding, the Brookl}^! 
Bridge, the greatest structure of its kind then known, 




CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



was finished, 1883. It was thought to be ample for 
traffic between New York and Brooklyn for all time. 



320 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

But several other bridges, besides some tunnels under 
the river, are now in use, and all ai:e taxed to their 
full capacity. 




GKOVER CLEVELAND. 

259. President Cleveland. 

In 1884, the Democrats of the country elected 
their candidate; and Grover Cleveland, of New York, 



THE SECOND CENTURY 321 

became President, the first Democrat since the days 
of Buchanan, "before the war," to hold that office. 

In 1885, a law was passed forbidding the making 
of contracts under which people of other countries 
might be brought to the United States to work. 

260. The Tariff. 

The high tariff, that had been in force for many 
years, had 3delded so much money to the Government 
that all of the national debt that was due had been 
paid, and there was a great sum in the treasury, for 
which there was no present use. It could not be used 
to pay more of the debt because the creditors of the 
Government, drawing interest on what the Govern- 
ment owed them, would not take the cash for the 
bonds they held. Many people thought that the 
surplus money should be used in works of a national 
character, especially for education in the South. The 
Democratic party favored cutting dowTi the tariff 
so that there would be less money coming to the 
Government. As Cleveland's term drew near its 
end, the tariff became a great question between the 
parties, and on it turned the election of 1888. 

261. President Harrison. 

The Democrats named Grover Cleveland for a 
second term, while the Republicans put forward 
Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, grandson of former 
President Harrison. Harrison was elected. 



322 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



Elarly in Harrison's term, a Tariff Bill prepared by 
William Mclvinley of Ohio was passed and became 
a law. 




BKNJAMIN HARRISON. 



262. Oklahoma. 

In 1889, the Government l^ought from the Indians 
a large part of their land in Indian Territory, which 



THE SECOND CENTURY 323 

they called Oklahoma, and opened it for settlement 
under the homestead law. Multitudes of people 
rushed to Oklahom.a and took up land. So great has 
been the growth of population there that Oklahoma 
including all of the former Indian Territory, is now a 
State, admitted in 1907. 

263. American Republics. 

During the same year a meeting of representatives 
of the American Republics, that is, the nations of 
Mexico, Central America and South America was 
held. Arrangements were made whereby disputes 
between those nations could be settled without 
war. 

264. New States. 

In 1889, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana 
and Washington were admitted to the Union as 
States. In 1890, Idaho was admitted. Its consti- 
tution gave to women the right to vote and hold 
office. Since then, Colorado and Utah have given 
the same rights to women. 

265. Pensions. 

Old soldiers of the Union had not fared well under 
Cleveland, who had vetoed many pension bills. In 
1890, a new pension bill was passed which largely 
increased present pensions and gave m.any new ones. 



324 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

266. The People's Party. 

During Harrison's term, the farmers in all parts of 
the country formed a political party which, being 
joined ])y many people, was called The People's 
Party. The new party demanded that Congress pass 
a bill for the free coinage of silver, at the ratio of 16 
of silver to 1 of gold by weight; that is, that a 
silver dollar should weigh just 16 times as much as 
a gold dollar. This would enable the mine owners, 
and others having silver, to get it coined, by the 
Government, without expense. The bill failed, but 
in its stead one was enacted which directed that the 
Secretary of the Treasury should purchase publicly, 
each month, four and a half million ounces of silver 
at the market price, and coin a large part of it 
into dollars. It was not a sensible bill, and was 
passed only to prevent the passage of the People's 
Party Bill which was very much worse. It was 
assumed by some that this monthly purchase of silver 
by the Government would advance the price of the 
metal; but it had no such effect. Silver still declined 
in value, until at length a silver dollar came to be 
worth less than half as much as a gold one, reckoned 
by the market value of the metal in both. 

267. Census of 1890. Eleventh Census. 

The census of 1890 gave, as the population of the 
United States, 62,623,250, Just a hundred years 
before, in 1790, the first census showed a population 



THE SECOND CENTURY 325 

of 3,929,000. If the wealth of the Nation had been 
divided equally in 1890, each man, woman and child 
would have had a thousand dollars. During the last 
ten years the wealth of the South had increased four 
thousand million dollars. This was through the open- 
ing up of the wealth of the country by free labor. 

In 1883, — Alaska wasexplored, and the Yukon River 
was foiuid to l^e two thousand miles long. Brooklyn 
Bridge was finished. It was of ample capacit}'; but 
now there are two more, and others projected, besides 
tunnels under the river, all of which are needed. 
Letter-postage was reduced from three cents to two. 
1884, — Washington Monument at Washington was 
completed, after thirty-six years of building. Dur- 
ing this year electric cars began running, experimen- 
tally. 1885,— the long distance telephone came into 
use. In the great wheat-fields of the West, machines, 
drawn by thirty horses, that cut, thresh, clean and 
bag the wheat at one operation, were working. A law 
was passed that newspapers and periodicals might be 
sent by publishers, by mail, at one cent a pound. 
1886, — the making of beet sugar began in California. 
It is now made in other parts of the country in vast 
quantities. The first wire nails of steel, made in this 
country, were made in 1886. Nearly all nails are now 
made of wiret This was the year of the severe earth- 
quake in Charleston, S. C. 1887, — the graphophone 
was invented, and the Interstate Commerce Law 
was passed. 1888, — the Australian System of Voting 



326 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

began. A new process of making aluminum was in- 
vented. It has brought the price of that metal down 
from sixteen dollars a pound to thirty-five cents. 
1889,^ — free delivery of letters, in all cities having 
five thousand inhabitants or more, began. The 
first electric street railway was put in operation at 
Boston. 1890, — the common , low, safety bicycle came 
into use. So did the typesetting machine. There 
were, on the Mississippi and its branches, more than 
seven thousand river craft, and, on the Great Lakes, 
thirty-seven hundred vessels, some of enormous size. 

268. Cleveland Reelected. 

In 1892, the Republicans named Harrison for a 
second term as President. The People's Party had a 
candidate, and the Democrats named Cleveland, who 
was elected. The election gave complete control 
of the Presidency, Senate, and House of Representa- 
tives, to the Democratic party. Fear of what the 
party now in power might do alarmed business 
men, and there was a pause in the progress of the 
Nation. There was fear of a period of hard times. 

269. The Tariff. 

The Democrats now passed a Tariff Bill to their 
liking, known as the Wilson Bill, to take the place of 
that which was in force under the McKinley Bill. 
Under the new tariff the receipts of the Government 
fell off rapidly, and in a short time the surplus was 



THE SECOND CENTURY 327 

gone and the Nation had to borrow money to pay its 
way. Up to this time, ever since the war, there had 
been a rapid payment of the national debt. Now, 
the debt began to grow, and it did not stop until it 
had increased two hundred and fifty million dollars. 

270. The Panic. 

The folly of the silver law showed its effects fully 
in 1893. Foreign holders of national bonds, fearful 
that the Government would seek to pay them in dis- 
honest silver dollars, worth only sixty-seven cents 
each, instead of honest gold dollars, began to sell 
them. They sold them at low prices, fearing that 
if they did not they would in the end get less. People 
who had Government notes, fearful that they would 
have to take cheap silver dollars in payment, instead 
of good gold dollars, rushed to get them paid. This 
took the gold that the Government had, and it 
began to look as though the Nation would soon have 
nothing, but its tons of dishonest silver dollars to pay 
with. There came a terrible panic, and the times 
were hard. Never in the history of the country has 
there been such a period of idleness and want as came 
in 1893. At length the foolish silver law, was repealed. 
But the hard times lasted through Cleveland's term 
and a part of that of his successor. 

271. The Monroe Doctrine. 

The United States will not allow territory to be 
gained in America by any monarch}^ in Europe. That 



328 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

is the Monroe Doctrine. In 1895, Great Britain had 
a dispute with Venezuela over the boundary Hne 
between that country and some British territory 
which adjoined it. Weak Venezuela proposed that 
the question of the boundary be decided by outside 
parties. Strong Great Britain said, ''No." The 
United States urged that the matter be settled as 
Venezuela desired. Great Britahi said, ''No." It 
soon appeared that, if Great Britain attempted to 
seize Venezuelan territory, there was likely to be a 
war between that nation and our own. But wisdom 
prevailed, and the matter of the boundary line was 
settled, and the affair ended pleasantly. This settle- 
ment stands as a notal)le example of the modern 
method of settling national differences. It shows 
that nations, as well as men, may come to agreement 
by ways of peace. 

272. President McKinley. 

In 1896, both the Democratic party, and the Peo- 
ple's party named Wm. J. Bryan of Nebraska for 
President. 

The main demand of both was for free coinage of 
silver on the basis of fifty or sixty cents worth of 
silver being made into a coin by the Government, 
for any citizen who might bring it to the mint. 
The coin was to be called a dollar and to pass as such. 
No charge was to be made for the work of coinage. 

The Republican party named William McKinley of 



THE SECOND CENTURY 



329 



Ohio, author of the McKinley Tariff Law, and opposed 
the free coinage of silver. McKinley was elected. 

In 1896, Utah became a State of the Union.. 

In 1897, the Dingley Tariff Bill was passed, so 




WILLIAM McKINLEY. 



framed as to make the tariff yield enough money to 
pay the nmning expenses of the Government, which 
the tariff, during Cleveland's term, had not done. 



330 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

In 1898, the Hawaiian Islands, in the far Pacific, 
were annexed to the United States. 

273. The War with Spain. 

The people of Cuba were in rebellion against 
Spain, that for centuries had held the Island as a 
province. The war was waged savagely by both 
parties. Naturally the people of the United States 
felt well disposed toward the native Cubans, and 
this made Spain feel sullenly angry with us. 

Early in 1898, an American naval vessel, the 
'^^laine," was sent to Havana, that there might be 
a refuge there for such Americans as might have to 
flee from mob violence. The visit of the ship was 
a friendly one. While she lay in the harbor, the 
"Maine" was blown up by an explosion of dynamite 
under her, and was destroyed, with nearly all her crew. 

It was believed by the American people that this 
deed was done by the Spanish officers, and there was 
a strong feeling against Spain. In April, Congress 
passed an Act directing the President to compel 
Spain to give Cuba her independence. Spain re- 
fused to receive the notice sent by the United States, 
and Congress declared war, April 19, 1898. 

The natives in the Philippine Islands, subject to 
Spain, were at this time in re]:)ellion; so that Spain 
while engaged in putting down one rebellion in 
Cuba, and another on the other side of the globe, 
was now facing a war with the United States. 



THE SECOND CENTURY 331 

At once, the Cuban ports were blockaded by our 
naval vessels, and Commodore Dewey, commanding 
our naval squadron in the far Pacific, was ordered to 
attack the Spanish fleet at Manila, the chief port of 
the Philippine Islands. 

Dewey went to Manila and destroyed the Spanish 
fleet. This victory gave to the United States control 
of the Spanish possessions in the Pacific Ocean, and 
made our Nation a power in the Eastern Hemisphere. 
Troops were sent to hold the islands. 

Spain sent a large part of her home naval fleet to 
Cuba, to be in a position to attack the American 
war-ships or some American seacoast cities, as chance 
might decide. The vessels entered the Harbor of 
Santiago, Cuba. 

As soon as it was known where Spain's war-ships 
were, the United States naval squadron stood guard 
over the harbor, so that they could not come out 
without a battle. Shuttings up the Spanish fleet 
made the seaport cities of ovu* country safe, and also 
enabled transport ships to carry soldiers and supplies 
to Cul)a in safety. 

The American Army, that had reached Cuba, soon 
drove the Spanish forces into Santiago and threatened 
to attack the ships in the harbor with land batteries. 
Knowing that the ships would be destroyed if they 
stayed in port, the Spanish made a desperate attempt 
to escape by running their vessels through the fleet 
that was watching for them outside. The attempt 



332 SHORT AMPJRTCAN HISTORY 

failed; and, in a three hours' fight, the Spanish war- 
ships were all destroyed. 

With her two best naval squadrons lost, Spain saw 
no chance to succeed by further fighting; so she gave 
up Santiago and asked for peace. 

274. The Treaty of Peace. 

The treaty of peace was signed in December, 1898. 
The war had lasted about four months; and the 
Americans had lost about four hundred men. No 
American war-ship had been seriously damaged. 

By the treat}^, Cuba became a free country inde- 
pendent of Spain, to govern herself under the protec- 
tion of the United States. Porto Rico, an island of 
the West Indies, Guam, one of the Ladrone Islands, 
and the Philippines, all came to the United States. 
Thus Spain, leader in exploring the western world, and 
at one time having more land than all other nations, 
parted with her last western holdings, and with them 
the Philippines in the Eastern Hemisphere, which 
she had held ever since Magellan's voyage. Little did 
men of Washington's time foresee that our country 
was yet to extend westward, first to the Rocky 
Mountains; then to the Pacific; then to the far side 
of that greatest of oceans, even to Asia. 

275. American Troops in China. 

In 1900, a rebellion broke out in China, and many 
people from Japan, Europe, and the United States 



THE SECOND CENTURY .388 

were murdered. Others were in danger, and troops 
were sent from Great Britain, Japan, Germany, 
France, Italy and the United States to protect them. 
The invasion was successful after some fighting. 

In the settlement, each of the invading nations, 
except the United States, proposed to take a portion 
of territory from China. The United States insisted 
on fair play, and would not take land or money from 
the unfortunate nation. The stand that our Nation 
took resulted in an arrangement, under which China 
kept her territory and the nations are allowed to 
trade in China. 

276. The Standard Dollar. 

In 1900, an Act was passed by Congress making the 
gold dollar the standard of value in coinage. This 
did away with any fixed ratio of value between silver 
and gold. Under it, all Government payments are 
to be in gold coin or in silver coin equal in value to 
gold, dollar for dollar. 

277. Second Election of McKinley. 

In 1900, the Republican party carried the Presi- 
dential election and elected McKinley for a second 
term. Theodore Roosevelt of New York was elected 
Vice-President. 

During the year, the Hawaiian Islands were given 
territorial government. In the Philippines, there was 
trouble with the natives, who fought for independence 



334 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

against the United States, as they had done against 
Spain. 

In 1901. the Cubans formed a government modeled 
on that of the United States. It provided for control 
by the United States, in the future, should such con- 
trol be necessary. As soon as the government was 
in force our troops were withdrawn. 

In the Philippines, the rebel leader, Aguinaldo, was 
captured. Learning of the good intentions of the 
United States, he advised his followers to cease 
fighting and place themselves under the American 
Government. This ended the war in the Islands, 
except such fighting as has l)een carried on since by 
native ])andits and outlaws. 

278. Death of President McKinley. 

In September, 1901, President McKinley was mur- 
dered. The wretch who committed the deed was a 
low-bred , ignorant young man, a son of Polish immi- 
grants who came to America to find freedom. The 
murderer was arrested at once, and after a trial 
was put to death. Vice-President Theodore Roose- 
velt was sworn, as President, immediateh^ after the 
death of McKinley and at once began his duties. 

279. Cuba as a Nation. 

In 1902, the American flag was withdrawal from 
Cuba, and that Repubhc took its place among the 
nations. Its first President was Tomas E. Palma. 



THE SECOND CENTURY 



335 



280. The Alaskan Boundary Line. 

The boundary line between Russian America and 
the English possessions in North America was estab- 




COPYRIGHT, PACH BROS. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 



hshed by those nations in 1825. The line was not 
very closely defined, because, in that frozen region, 



336 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

land was thought to have so httle value that it would 
not pay to take great pains in dividing it- 

But, after Russian America was bought by the 
United States and was named Alaska, the Americans 
found that, in the Yukon and Klondike regions, gold 
was plentiful. Some of the gold-bearing land was very 
near the line that divided Alaska from Canada. It 
was now desired by ])oth governments that the Hne 
be laid out very carefully, to show which nation 
owned the gold-fields. The matter was referred to 
a commission of six men, and in 1903, they gave their 
decision. It mainly favored the claims of the United 
States. 

281. The Panama Canal. 

The war with Spain, and its results, made it plain 
that the United States needs a canal across the isth- 
mus that connects the two American continents- 
Such a canal will give our naval vessels a short cut 
from ocean to ocean in case of war, and will enable 
our ships of commerce to make quick and safe passage 
at all times. The great conmierce we are to have 
in future ages with Asia will make the isthmus-canal 
the most important water-way in the world. The 
United States is ])uilding the canal and is to control 
and defend it; though it is to be open to the ships of 
all nations. The work is going on at the present 
time, 1908, very rapidly. 



THE SECOND CENTURY 337 

282. The Election of Roosevelt. 

In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt was elected President. 
An important question during Roosevelt's term was 
the checking of the increasing power of corporations 
and trusts controlHng immense capital. War began 
between Russia and Japan, February, 1904. In the 
following year, President Roosevelt brought about 
a meeting of commissioners of the two nations, at 
Portsmouth, N. H. This meeting resulted in a 
treaty of peace between Russia and Japan. 

In 1908, it appeared that the interests of the 
United States in the Pacific Ocean had grown so 
vast since the Spanish War, as to make it fitting that 
our Nation should be representedon that ocean,by a 
powerful fleet. Accordingly one of the strongest fleets 
of war-ships that ever sailed was sent from our Atlan- 
tic coast to ou^ Pacific coast, by a voyage around 
South America. 

283. A Forecast. 

The United States as a nation has done more for 
the advancement of the world than any other nation 
in history. Its work has only begun. It is now 
the leading nation of the world. 

During the next generation, great world move- 
ments, that will stand out in history, will take place 
in Asia. The influence of the United States in these 
movements will be potent for good, for the United 
States is now a world force. 



33S SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Boys and girls of the proper age to read this his- 
tory, are destined to Hve in a period of greater oppor- 
tunity than any that their forefathers ever knew. 
More will ])e required of them, when they become 
men and women, than has l)een required of their fore- 
fathers. The United States will shape the destiny 
of the world; and those who are now boys and girls 
will, in a few years, control the .United States. 



SUMMARY. 

1. The death of Lincohi. 

2. President Johnson. His pohcy. 
•A. The (Uvil Rights Bill. 

4. The Fourteenth Amendment. 

5. The South under mihtary government. 

6. President Johnson impcnchcd. 

7. France in Mexico. Maximilian. 

8. General Grant elected President. 

9. The Fifteenth Amendment. 

10. Tlie Pacific Railroad. 

11. The "Alabama" Claims. 

12. A disputed Presidential election. 

13. Chinese immigration. 

14. Election of Garfield. His death. 

15. President Arthur. 

16. The new navy. 

17. Grover Cleveland becomes President, 

18. The tariff. 

19. President Harrison elected. 

20. Oklahoma becomes a territory in 1889; a State in 1907. 



THE SECOND CENTURY 339 



21. New States admitted. 

22. Cleveland reelected. New Tariff Bill. 

23. The Venezuela dispute. 

24. William IMcKinley becomes President. 

25. The Hawaii Islands annexed. 
2(). The war with Spain. 

27. The Panama Canal. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 

1. Who succeeded Lincoln as President? 

2. What was one of Johnson's first official acts? 

3. What important laws were passed by Congress during John- 

son's administration? 

4. What was the Ku-Klux-Klan? What was done to sup- 

press it? • 

5. What Federal law did Johnson override? With what result? 

6. Who was Maximilian? What did he attempt to do? 

7. What was the Fifteenth Amendment? 

8. Why was the Pacific Railroad important? 

9. How were the "Alabama" claims settled? 

10. What was the Enforcement Act? 

11. Why were Chinese immigrants undesirable? 

12. Who was elected President in 1880? 

13. Who succeeded him? 

14. Who was the first Democratic President since Buchanan's 

time? 

15. Who was elected President in 1888? 

16. When was Oklahoma admitted as a State? 

17. Was Cleveland reelected? When? 

18. When was McKinley first elected? 

19. Give an account of the war with Spain. 

20. How will the Panama Canal be useful? 



APPENDIX. 

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Preamble. 

We, the people of the United States; in order to form a more perfect 
union, estabhsh justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the com- 
mon defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty 
to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution 
for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE I. The Legislative Department. 

Section I. Congress in General. 

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the 
United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representa- 
tives. 

Section II. House of Representatives. 

1st Clause. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members 
chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the elec- 
tors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the 
most numerous branch of the State legislature. 

2d Clause. No person shall be a representative who shall not have 
attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven j'ears a citizen 
of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of 
that State in which he shall be chosen. 

3d Clause. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among 
the several States which may be included within this Union, according to 
their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole 
number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years-, 
and, excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The 
actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting 
of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of 
ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of rep- 

341 



342 APPENDIX 

resentatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State 
shall have at least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be 
made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massa- 
chusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut 
five, New York six. New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, 
Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and 
(Jeorgia three. 

Jilh Clause. When vacancies haj)p('n in the representation from any State, 
the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacan- 
cies. 

5th Clause. The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and 
other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Skction III. The Senate. 

1st Clause. The Senate of the Unitetl States shall be composed of two 
senators from each State, shosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; 
and each senator shall have one vote. 

2d Clause. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consecpience of 
the first election, they shall be divided as eciually as may be into three 
classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the 
expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the 
fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so 
that one-third may be chosen eveiy second year; and if vacancies happep 
by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any 
State, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the 
next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 

Sd Clause. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to 
the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the Ihiited States, 
and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which 
he shall be chosen. 

Jith Clause. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President 
of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

5th Clause. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a Presi- 
dent pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall 
exercise the office of President of the United States. 

6th Clause. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. 
When sitting for that purpose, they shall all be on oath or affirmation. 
WTien the President of the Ignited States is tried, the Chief Justice shall 
preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two- 
thirds of the members present. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 343 

7th Clause. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further 
than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any 
office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States; but the party con- 
victed shall nevertheless be liab e and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, 
and punishment, according to law. 

Section IV. Both Houses. 

1st Clause. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for sen- 
ators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the legis- 
lature thereof ; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such 
regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 

2d Clause. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and 
such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall 
by law appoint a different day. 

Section V. The Houses Separately. 

1st Clause. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and 
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute 
a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to 
day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, 
in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide. 

2d Clause. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish 
its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two- 
thirds, expel a member. 

3d Clause. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from 
time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judg- 
ment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house 
on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered 
on the journal. 

4th Clause. Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without 
the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other 
place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. 

Section VI. Privileges and Disabilities of Members. 

1st Clause. The senators and representatives shall receive a compen- 
sation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treas- 
ury of the United States. They shall, in all cases except treason, felony 
and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance 
at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from 



344 APPENDIX 

« 

the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not -be 
questioned in any other place. 

2d Clause. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which 
he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the 
United States, which shall have been created, or the emohunents whereof 
shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any 
office under the United States shall be a member of either house during his 
continuance in office. 

Section VII. Mode of passing Laws. 

1st Clause. AH bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of 
Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments 
as on other bills. 

M Clause. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representa- 
tives and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the 
President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he 
shall return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have 
originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and 
proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that 
house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objec- 
tions, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if 
approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all 
such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas anil nays, 
and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill sliall be entered 
on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned 
by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have 
been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner :is if he had 
signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in 
which case it shall not be a law. 

Sd Clause. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence 
of the Senate and House of Representatives may be nece-ssary (except on a 
question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the Uniteil 
States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be ai)proved by him, or 
being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate 
and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations pre- 
scribed in the case of a bill. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 345 

Section VIII. Potvers granted to Congress. 

The Congress shall have power — 

1st Clause. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to 
pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and general welfare of 
the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform 
throughout the United States; 

M Clause. To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

Sd Clause. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the 
several States, and with the Indian tribes; 

^h Clause. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform 
laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

5th Clause. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign 
coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures; 

6th Clause. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities 
and current coin of the United States; 

7th Clause. To establish post-offices and post-roads; 

8th Clause. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by secur- 
ing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their 
respective writings and discoveries; 

9th Clause. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ; 

lOth Clause. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the 
high seas, and offences against the law of nations; 

11th Clause. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and 
make rules concerning captures on land and water; 

12th Clause. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money 
to that use shall be for a longer term than two years ; 

ISth Clause. To provide and maintain a navy; 

101 Clause. To make rules for the government and regulation of the 
land and naval forces ; 

15th Clause. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws 
of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions; 

16th Clause. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the 
militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the 
service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the 
appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia accord- 
ing to the discipline prescribed by Congress ; 

17th Clause. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, 
over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of 
particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the 
Government of the United States; and to exercise like authority over all 



346 APPENDIX 

places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the 
same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, tlock-yards, 
and other needful buildings ; — and 

18th Clause. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for 
carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested 
by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any 
department or officer thereof. 

Section IX. Powers denied to the United States. 

l.'it Clause. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the 
States now existing shall think proper to adniit, shall not be prohibited by 
the Congress prior to the year one thou.sand eight hundred and eight, but a 
tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars 
for each person. 

Sd Clause. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus- 
pended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may 
require it. 

3d Clause. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

4.th Clause. No capitation, or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in pro- 
portion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

5th Clause. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any 
State. 

6th Clause. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce 
or revenue to the ports of one State over tho.se of another; nor shall vessels 
bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in 
another. 

7th Clause. No money .shall be drawn from tlie treasury, but in con.se- 
quence of appropriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account 
of the receipts and expenditures of all i)ublic money shall be publi.shed from 
time to time. 

8th Clause. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; 
and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, with- 
out the con.sent of Congre.'^s, accept of any present, emolument, office, or 
title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State. 

Section X. Pincers denied to the States. 

1st Clause. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confetlera- 
tion; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; 
make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 347 

any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of con- 
tracts, or grant any title of nobility. 

2(1 Clause. No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any 
imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties 
and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the use 
of the treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the 
revision and control of the Congress. 

3(1 Clause. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty 
of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any 
agreement or compact with another State or with a foreign power, or engage 
in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not 
admit of delay. 

ARTICLE II. The Executive Department. 

Section I. President and Vice-President. 

1st Clause. The executive power shall be vested in a Presitlent of the 
United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four 
years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be 
elected as follows: 

2(1 Clause. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature 
thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of sen- 
ators and representatives to which the State maybe entitled in the Congress. 
But no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or 
profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 

[The 3d clause has been superseded by the 12th article of Amendments. 
See page xix.] 

j^h Clause. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the elec- 
tors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be 
the same throughout the United States. 

5th Clause. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the 
United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be 
eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to 
that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and 
been fourteen years a resident within the United States. 

6th Clause. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his 
death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the 
said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President; and the Congress 
may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, 



34S APPENDIX 

both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then 
act as President, antl svich officer shall act accordingly, until the disability 
be removed, or a President shall be elected. 

7th Clause. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services 
a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the 
period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within 
that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them. 

8th Clause. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take 
the following oath or affirmation: — 

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office 
of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, pre- 
serve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." 

Sectiox II. Powers of the PresUlent. 

Isi Clause. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and 
' navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when 
called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opin- 
ion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, 
upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he 
shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the 
United States, except in cases of impeachment.' 

2d Clause. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of 
the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present 
concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of 
the Senate, shall appoint, ambassadors, other j)ul)lic ministers and con- 
suls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the Ihiited States, 
whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall 
be established by law; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment 
of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the 
courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 

Sd Clause. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that 
may hapi)en during the recess of the Senate, by granting conunissions, 
which shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Section III. Dulles of the President. 

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state 
of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he 
shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions 
convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement be- 
tween them with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 349 

to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other 
public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and 
shall commission all the officers of the United States. 

Section IV. Impeachment of the President. 

The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United States, 
shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, 
bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. The Judicial Department. 

Section I. The United States Courts. 

The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme 
Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time 
ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, 
shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, 
receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished 
during their continuance in office. 

Section II. Jurisdiction of the United States Courts. 

1st Clause. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity 
arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties 
made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting 
ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to all cases of admiralty 
and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall 
be a party; to eontroversies between two or more States; between a State 
and citizens of another State; between citizens of different States; between 
citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different States, 
and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or 
subjects. 

£d Clause. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and 
consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court 
shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, 
the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, 
with such exceptions and under such regulations as tfie Congress shall make. 

3d Clawic. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall 
be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes 
shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, 
the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have 
directed. 



350 APPENDIX 

Section III. Treason. 

1st Cla'use. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying 
war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and com- 
fort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of 
two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. 

2d Clause. The Congress shall have jH)wer to declare the punishment of 
treason, hut no attainder of treason .shall work corruption of blood, or for- 
feiture except during the life of the person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV. Miscellaneous Provisions. 

Section I. State Records. 

Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, 
records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Congress 
may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and 
proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

Section II. Privileges of Citizens. 

1st Clause. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges 
and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

2d Clause. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other 
crime, who shall flee from justice, and bo found in another State, shall, on 
demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be 
delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime. 

Sd Clause. No person held to service or labor in one State, under the 
laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or 
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be 
delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. 

Section III. Xeiv Stales ami Territories. 

1st Clause. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union ; 
but no new State shall be formed or erecteil within the juristiiction of any 
other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States 
or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the States 
concerned as well as of the Congress. 

2d Clause. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all 
needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property 
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be 
so construed as to prejudice any claims of tlie United States or of any partic- 
ular State. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 351 



Section IV. Guarantees to the States. 

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a repub- 
lican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; 
and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legis- 
lature cannot be convened), against domestic violence. 



ARTICLE V. Powers of Amendment. 

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, 
shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of 
the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention 
for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid, to all intents 
and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures 
of three-fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths 
thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the 
Congress: provided that no amendment \^^hich may be made prior to the 
year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the 
first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no 
State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the 
Senate. 

ARTICLE VL Public Debt, Supremacy of the Constitution, Oath 
OF Office, Religious Test. 

1st Clause. All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States 
under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 

2d Clause. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which 
shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law 
of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything 
in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. 

3d Clause. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the 
members of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial 
officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound 
by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test 
shall ever be required as a cjualification to any office or public trust under 
the United States. 



352 APPENDIX 

ARTICLE VII. Ratification of the Constitution. 

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for 
the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the 
same. 

AMENDMENTS 

PROPOSED P>Y CONGRESS AND RATIFIED liY THE LEGISLATURES OF THE SEVERAL 
STATES, PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION. 

Article I. Freedom of Religion. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or 
prohiijiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or 
of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition 
the government for a redress of grievances. 

Article IT. Right to hear Arms. 

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the .security of a free state, 
the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. 
Article III. Quartering Soldiers on Citizens. 
No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any hou.se without the 
con.sent of tlie owner, nor in time of war but in a manner to be prescribed 
by law. 

Article IV. Search Warrants. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, hou.ses, papers, 
and effects, against unrea.sonable .searches and seizures, shall not be vio- 
lated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probal^le cau.se, supported by 
oath or affirmation, and particularly tlescribing the place to be searched, 
and the persons or things to be .seized. 

Article V. Trial for Crime. 

No person shall be held lo answer for a capital, or olherwi.se infamous 
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases 
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service 
in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the 
san)e offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be com- 
pelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himsself, nor be deprived 
of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private 
property be taken for public use without just compensation. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED. STATES 353 

Article VI. Rights of Accused Persons. 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy 
and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the 
crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously 
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the aucc- 
sation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compul- 
sory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance 
of counsel for his defence. 

Article VII. Suits at Common Law. 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact 
tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United 
States than according to the rules of the common law. 

Article VIII. Excessive Bail. 

Excessive bail Shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor 
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

Article IX. Rights Retained by the People. 

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be con- 
strued to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

Article X. Reserved Rights of the States. 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to 
the people. 

Article XI. 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend 
to any suit, in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the 
United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of 
any foreign state. 

Article XII. • 

1st Clause. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote 
by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall nt)t 
be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their 
ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person 
voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons 



354 APPENDIX 

voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and 
of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and 
transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed 
to the President of the Senate; the Presiilent of the Senate shall, in presence 
of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and 
the votes shall then lie counted; the person having the greatest number of 
votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of 
the whole number of electors appointetl; and if no person have such major- 
ity, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three 
on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives 
shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the 
President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each 
State having one vote; a quoriun for this purpose shall consist of a member 
or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States 
shall be necessary to a choice. Antl if the House of Representatives shall 
not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon 
them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-Presi- 
dent shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other consti- 
tutional disability of the President. 

2d Clause. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice- 
President shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then 
from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose the Vice- 
President; a (juorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole 
niuiiber of senators, and a majority of the whole munber shall be necessary 
to a choice. 

3(1 Clause. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of Presi- 
dent shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the Ihiited States. 

Article XHI. 

Section I. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a pimish- 
ment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall 
exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

Sec. II. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate 
legislation. 

Article XIV. 

Section I. .Ml persons born or naturalized in the United States, and 
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of 
the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 355 

States; nor t^hall any State deprive any person of life, lilierty, or property, 
without due process of law, nor tleny any person within its jurisdiction the 
equal protection of the laws. 

Sec. II. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States 
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of per- 
sons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to 
vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive and 
judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is 
tienied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one 
years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, 
except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representa- 
tion therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such 
male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one 
years of age in such State. 

Sec. III. No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or 
elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, 
under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken 
an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or 
as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer 
of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have 
engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or com- 
fort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds 
of each house, remove such disability. 

Sec. IV. The validity of the public debt of the United States, author- 
ized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties 
for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. 
But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt 
or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United 
States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such 
debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

Sec. V. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legis- 
lation, the provisions of this article. 

Article XV. 

Section I. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not 
be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of 
race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Sec. II. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro- 
priate legislation. 



APH 14 liiOB 



